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HISTORY 



THE INDIAN WALK 



I'ERFORMED FOR THE 



Proprietaries OF Pennsylvania in 1737; 



TO WHICH IS APPENDED A 



LIFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL, 

BY 

WILLIAM J. BUCK, 

Member of the Histobical Society of Pennsylvaitia ; 

Author of " History of Bucks County," "History of Moreland,"' '-His- 
tory of Montgomery County Within the Schuylkill Valley," " History of 
Montgomery County," " Life of Chief Justice Langhorne," '• Contribu- 
tions to the History of Bucks County," '-The Cuttelossa," -'The 
Local Historian," " Early Discovery of Coal in Pennsylvania," 
'• Early Accounts of Petroleum in the United States," Etc. 




PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 
1886. 



Kditioii limited tf) Two Huiulred and Ten Copies. 



Kntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by 

WILLIAM j. i:i(^K. 
In the Office of the Lil)rarian of Congress at Washington. 



PREFACE. 

Of all that has been pubhshed relating to the his- 
tory of Pennsylvania nothing probably has been more 
contradictory than that relating to the famous Indian 
Walk. Its beginning, general course and termina- 
tion have more or less puzzled all writers who have 
attempted to treat upon it, without suspecting that it 
was on the part of the Proprietaries intentionally done 
to cover or conceal their proceedings. The date of 
its performance has also been a matter of speculation, 
owing to the conflicting character of the materials, 
without knowing until quite recently that there really 
had been a preliminary or trial Walk, which came thus 
to be confounded with the former though happening 
several years apart. 

Since the publication of his history of Bucks county, 
in 1855, the writer has been a devoted collector of 
materials on this matter, but circumstances in a busy 
life have heretofore prevented their earlier prepara- 
tion for the press. It was his fortune, however, to 
be employed by the Hi.storical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania, to arrange the recently acquired Penn Papers 
from P2ngland, which occupied him more or less from 
October 1 872, until 1 876. While engaged in this labor 
pains were taken to secure extracts of whatever had 
a bearing on the subject. This enabled him after- 
wards to prosecute additional researches in the records 



4 PRE FACE. 

of Philadelphia, Bucks and Northampton counties, and 
also to seek the descendants of Edward Marshall and 
others to help explain and make uj) deficiencies of 
what was most needed. As the collection was thus 
increasing, the many hundreds of items were classified 
under appropriate heads. These were next carefully 
compared and whatever was considered and believed 
to be the most reliable was made use of, giving con- 
temporaneous documents the preference. While noth- 
ing of interest was omitted that appeared truthful a 
considerable amount, chiefly traditionary matter, had 
to be rejected, because so utterly at variance with 
original existing materials. Pri\ate correspondence 
of the period has been of great service in establish- 
ing facts and revealing the mysteries of the affair, 
showing that there was a design in keeping the mat- 
ter concealed as far as possible from the public, and 
hence the cause of so many errors. No wonder the 
extensive Penn papers were so long withheld by the 
family until through their own dissensions they were 
hurried from out their possession and sold. 

This may be well considered a labor of love. The 
long interval of one-third of a century has passed 
away since it was commenced. It was some incentive 
that on the line of the Walk the writer's ancestors 
have lived for several generations, and where also he 
was born, spent his early youth, and received his first 
traditions thereon. Not many miles away was also 
the Island home of Edward Marshall, which led to 
an acquaintance with a number of his descendants, 



PREFACE. 5 

whose assistance has since proved of great service as 
well as that of several others in the county, though now 
nearly all deceased. The information thus sought and 
obtained was fortunately noted down at the time and 
is now first made use of in this work. Authorities on 
all leading points have been carefully given in sup- 
port of the writer's statements or where contrary views 
have been heretofore maintained. 

In its beginning the Indian Walk appeared but a 
small affair that lay chiefly between the Proprietaries 
of Pennsylvania and the native Indians. With time 
the results of its injustice became more and more ap- 
parent and on the part of the Indians culminated in 
war and the most determined efforts for the recovery 
of their favorite hunting grounds of which they were de- 
frauded by the extraordinary head-line drawn from the 
end of the Walk, costing the lives of hundreds of the 
unfortunate settlers. The Assembly of Pennsylvania, 
through their agent Dr. Franklin, had the affair laid be- 
fore the King and Government of Great Britain for in- 
vestigation, thus claiming attention on both sides of 
the Atlantic, and resulting in considerable feeling. 
However, the excitement attending it in Pennsylvania 
was preparing the people more and more for inde- 
pendence. The Indian Walk had a more important 
bearing on the history of Pennsylvania than has gen- 
erally been supposed. 

With these remarks the work is respectfully sub- 
mitted to the judgment of candid and impartial readers. 

W. J. B. 

Jenkintmun, Pa., September, 1886. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter Page 

I. — The Proprietary Government, .... 7 

II. — The Rights of the Indians, .... 20 

III. — Lands Sold Not (^ranted by the Indians, . . 36 

IV.— The Trial Walk, ..... 53 

V. — The Walking Purchase, . . . .64 

VI. — Preparations for the Walk, .... 82 

VII.— The Indian Walk, ..... 91 

VIII. — Observations on the Walk, .... 99 

IX. — Results of the Walk, . . . .112 

X. — What Brought Forth the Documents, . . 121 

XI. — The Proprietaries and the Society of Friends, . . 137 

.\II. — Biographical Sketches of Prominent Persons Concerned in 

the Walk, ..... 151 

LIFE OF EDWARD M.VKSli.M.L. 

Chapter Page 

I. — His Early Career, ..... 203 

1 1. ^His Account of the Walk, .... 209 

III. — Removes to Northampton County, . 209 

IV. — Indian Attacks on His Family, . . . 222 

V. — Bounties for Destroying Indians, . . . 230 

VI. — Returns to Bucks County, .... 239 

VII. — Family Reminiscences and Traditions, . . . 247 

VIII.— Marshall's Island, ..... 254 

I.\. — His Descendants, . . . . . 259 



THE INDIAN WALK. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT. 

For a proper understanding of the Indian Walk, both 
as to its cause, effect and general results, a knowledge 
of the Proprietary government is necessary. During 
almost a century it exercised its powers over the des- 
tinies of what is now a great state, subject only to the 
King and Parliament of Great Britain. What that gov- 
ernment was, its rights, duties and requirements, we 
propose to briefly investigate. Much has been written 
of what transpired during the colonial period, but 
not on this subject. Some had no desire to touch on it 
for the purpose of giving an expression of their views, 
and others again have so omitted it as to make it appear 
of small account, or only incidentally to show by its ac- 
tions that there was such a power. 

The Royal Charter was granted by King Charles II. 
to William Penn in 1681, as a reward for the merits and 
services of his father Admiral Penn, and to indulge 
his desire to enlarge the British Empire and civilize 
the savage natives. The form of government was to 
be proprietary ; that is, the soil was given to him in 
fee, but he, his heirs and assigns and tenants, were to 
bear true faith and allegiance to the Crown. Penn 



8 THE INDIAN WALK. 

and his successors were authorized to govern the 
country by a legislative body, to erect courts of jus- 
tice and administer the laws, and generally do all 
things needful for the well-being of the inhabitants, so 
long as they kept within the statutes of the realm. An 
appeal to the tribunals of England was allowed, but in 
all cases the power there was to be regarded as final 
or conclusive. An agent was required to reside con- 
stantly in Great Britain to answer to alleged abuses, as 
for instance the acts of the Assembly here. 

It will be seen from this that the proprietary gov- 
ernment of Pennsylvania was nothing less than a he- 
reditary monarchy invested in William Penn and his 
descendants, but at the same time dependent on Great 
Britain ; the" King being the source of all power, be- 
yond whom there could be no appeal. In the third 
section of the Royal Charter is found the following 
feudal relic required in addition by the King from his 
liege subjects the Proprietaries: "paying thenceforth 
to us, our heirs and successors, two beaver skins, to 
be delivered at our Castle of Windsor, on the first 
day of January in every year; and also tlie fifth part 
of all gold and silv^cr ore, which shall from time to 
time happen to be found within the limits aforesaid, 
clear of all charges." This tribute of two beaver 
skins was actually paid by the Penns from 1753 to 
1780 we know, having sec;n the original receipts for 
the same. 

By said charter the whole province was made the 
property of one man — that is, in a two-fold sense, of its 



THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT. 9 

soil and its government; and all this for the discharge 
of a debt, regardless of the rights of the Indians or of 
the people residing there. In the exercise of the 
legal power conferred on him Penn proceeded to 
frame a government and a code of laws of his own 
device, subsequently the cause of so much trouble. 
For one thing, however, he deserved credit, and that 
was for religious toleration; but from the force of cir- 
cumstances, even had he been otherwise desirous, it 
could not have been well avoided, from the example 
set him some time before by the colonies of Rhode 
Island and Maryland. 

Whenever the proprietaries were not disposed to 
come here and carry on the government themselves, 
they appointed by the right they possessed the dep- 
uty governors, who only held the office during their 
permission, and placed them under bonds of ;^5O0O 
and approved security for their faithful performance 
and requisite loyalty, first due to the King and Brit- 
ish government, next to the Proprietaries, and third- 
ly and, it might be added, lastly, to the province or 
colony. 

This was a difficult task to assume, for there were 
three masters to serve, for what they owed to those 
abroad and what was due to the circumstances by 
which they were surrounded. It may be surpris- 
ing that with all the power exercised over them yet 
the province paid their salaries, which were fixed and 
allowed by the Assembly. 



lO THE INDIAN WALK. 

There was a Council, which at first was elected 
every three years, consisting of eighteen persons and 
an Assembly, annually. The Council could only act 
with the advice of the Governor and with him pos- 
sessed the appointing power. The powers of the 
Assembly extended little beyond making laws re- 
lating to the collecting and appropriating revenues. 

The greatest power of the Penns to carry through 
any unjust designs against the will of the people or ot 
the Assembly, who it appears were generally disposed 
to justice, lay in the appointing power. Thus the 
judges of the courts, the attorney general, surv^eyor 
general, and, if required, down to all their deputies, 
were appointed and commissioned by the governors 
and council through the instructions of the proprie- 
taries, and should the governor disobey he would at 
once be set aside. The Council though in one sense 
independent was completely subordinate to the 
governor, without whom they could not act. Again, 
when duly obedient or passive, themselves and sons 
would likely at some time be rewarded by office or 
promotion. This was the general character of those 
in the courts as well as in other provincial offices. 
Likewise in the election of the various county officers 
by the people, the governor had still the right to ap- 
point and commission either one of the two receiving 
the highest vote for the office. Thus in looking over 
our published Colonial Records and Archives, one will 
be struck at the appointing occasionally to office the 
one that received the next highest vote. This seems to 



THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT. I I 

hav'e been most frequently exercised with regard to the 
sheriff's office, and which unfortunately was held only 
one year at a time. This information becomes import- 
ant to explain in part how the Penns were enabled to 
plan, execute and carry out such an unjust act as the 
Walk on the Indians, and afterwards so successfully 
to smuggle away and conceal the public documents 
concerning the same that did not favor their interests. 
The Penns being themselves almost continually in- 
volved in law suits in Great Britain, had acquired in 
this respect considerable experience, which knowledge 
they would turn to account in the government of 
Pennsylvania. Hence they kept a vigilant eye on 
those designed to be judges of the courts as well as 
sheriffs who had the selection of jurors. So much 
were those holding these positions their creatures, that 
in any case in which the interest of the Penns would be 
involved there could be but a poor chance for justice. 
It is doubtful whether in any of the other English colo- 
nies there could have been found so servile a set af 
judges and so devoted to the proprietary interest as 
those of Pennsylvania down to the Revolution. Thus 
in the collection of their quit rents and other revenues, 
the leasing and disposing of lands and in the disputes 
arising therefrom, they wielded a power that now can 
scarcely be credited. In those matters the royal 
government had no interest and was consequently 
indifferent, but it was otherwise with the people, who, 
as a general thing, were too liberty-loving to be blind 
to such gross abuses of power ; and we need not 



12 THE INDIAN WALK. 

wonder that there was such a spirit of opposition to 
the proprietaries, and that they preferred a govern- 
ment directly under the crown. 

On the other hand the home government had its 
pecuHar interests involved and to see after, about 
which the Penns were equally indifferent, yet which 
bore sorely on the province. The Assembly, as an 
instance, had here passed a law laying a duty on the 
importation of slaves and convicts from abroad. The 
following is a copy of instructions issued by com- 
mand of the King to Governor George Thomas in re- 
gard to the same, dated the loth of December, 1731 : 
" Whereas Acts have been passed in some of Our Plan- 
tations in America for laying Duties on the Importation 
and Exportation of Negroes, to the great Discourage- 
ment of the Merchants trading thither from the coast 
of Africa ; and Whereas Acts have been likewise passed 
for laying of Duties on Felons imported in Direct oppo- 
sition to an Act of Parliament passed in the fourth year 
of Our late Royal F'ather's Reign, for the further pre- 
venting Robbery, Burglary and other Felonies, and 
for the more effectual Transportation of Felons — it is 
our Will and Pleasure, that you do not give your As- 
sent to or pass any Law imposing Duties upon Ne- 
groes into Our Province of Pennsylvania payable by 
the importer, or upon any slaves exported, that have 
not been sold in Our said Province and continued 
there for the space of Twelve Months. It is our further 
Will and Pleasure, that you do not give your Assent 
to or pass any Act whatever for imposing Duties on 



THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT, 1 3 

the Importation of any Felons from this Kingdom into 
Our said Province of Pennsylvania." 

The first Charter of Privileges for the province was 
made in England April 25, 1682, and the second, April 
2, 1683. These were set aside by Penn for a new one 
he framed, signed October 28, 1701, and which con- 
tinued in force till into the Revolution, when, of course, 
it was supplanted by a state constitution. On this last 
it becomes us now to touch, for compared to the pre- 
vious ones as respects privileges the people were made 
considerably the losers while the proprietary powers 
were greatly strengthened. The Council, or what we 
might call the Senate, were no longer elective ; the 
Proprietary had now assumed the sole right to select 
and dismiss them at his pleasure. In the third article 
of this charter (see the whole in Colonial Records, 
Vol. II, pp. 56-61) we find "That the freemen in 
.each respective county, at the time and place of meet- 
ing for electing their representatives to serve in As- 
sembly, may, as often as there shall be occasion, choose 
a double number of persons to present to the gover- 
nor, sheriffs and coroners, if so long they behave them- 
selves well, out of which respective elections and pre- 
sentments the governors shall nominate and commis- 
sionate one for each of the said offices." Though 
elections were held and appeared free, yet with such 
restrictions they could amount to little but to render 
officials extremely pliant and tractable to the measures 
or designs of the proprietaries. We need not wonder 
at the high-handed or arbitrary proceedings of such 



14 THE INDIAN WALK, 

men as deputy governors Evans and Denny, backed 
as they were by the powers to which they owed and 
held their positions. 

Gordon in his History of Pennsylvania (pp. 12 1-3) 
mentions another strong point gained by the Proprie- 
tary in the new charter. " Nor was the Council re- 
cognized as a part of the government, unless a prohi- 
bition to the Governor and Council to take cognizance 
of any complaint relating to property, except appeals 
should be allowed by law from the ordinary tribunals, 
may be considered as such recognition. The practice 
of trying causes relative to real estate, before the Gov- 
ernor and Council, as well as those in which private 
citizens were parties, as those in which the Proprietary 
was interested, had been continued. This made him 
a judge in his own cause, and was highly objectionable 
when the Council was elected by the people ; it became 
wholly admissible when that body became the mere- 
creature of the Governor." 

Just before his final departure, Penn appointed ten 
persons for the Council, of whom four were to be a 
(juorum. Respecting these he says, "to continue in 
place till my further order shall be known: and I 
further hereby grant to my Lieutenant Governor for 
the time being full power and authority upon the de- 
cease or removal of any of the said Council, to nomi- 
nate and appoint others to serve in their place and 
.stead, also to add to the number of the Council now 
appointed." So passed away the independent elective 
Council, and other extensive powers of the people. 



THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT. 1 5 

Ellis in his Life of Penn (p. 372) is therefore consid- 
erably mistaken when he says that "the new frame of 
Government was essentially the same, except in allow- 
ing the territories to separate from the government of 
the Province". Janney still more absurdly remarks 
( Life of Penn, second edition, p. 45 1 ) that " in some re- 
spects was even more liberal than those which pre- 
ceded it." Penn signed at New Castle, October 31, 
1 70 1, the charter for the borough of Chester, wherein 
he styles himself, perhaps for the first time, "true and 
absolute Proprietary and Governor-in-Chief of the 
Province of Pennsylvania, and Territories thereunto 
belonging." 

Coming down to a later period, the Indian war of 
1754 broke out, one of the causes of which was at- 
tributed to the unfairness of the Walk, and the ad- 
vantage taken therefrom by the Proprietaries to de- 
fraud them of a great quantity of land, and even sell- 
ing it to speculators some time previous to their legal 
ownership of the same. The war thus brought about 
involved considerable expense and bore rather heavily 
on the colony. With a view of equalizing taxation, the 
Assembly passed a bill levying iJ"ioo,ooo upon all es- 
tates, real and personal, including alike, and for the 
first time, that of the Proprietaries. Governor Denny, 
as their deputy, rejected it, and, however unjustly, 
the people were forced to submit to the exemption. 
But the Assembly determined to send two commission- 
ers to England, to present their grievances before the 
throne, and obtain relief Isaac Norris and Benjamin 



1 6 THE INDIAN WALK. 

Franklin were selected for this purpose ; but the former, 
on account of ill health and his private affairs, did not 
accept, and the latter proceeded alone, arriving in 
London in July, 1757, and laid his instructions before 
the government. This at once raised the ire of the 
Penns, and involved considerable controversy. How- 
ever, in 1759, a final decision was given on this vexed 
question, favoring the province, which was looked 
upon as a signal triumph by Franklin and his party. 
From the " Heads of Complaint, " presented by 
Franklin as agent, August 20, 1757, we give the follow- 
ing extracts : "That the reasonable and necessary power 
given to Deputy Governors of Penns\'lvania by the 
Royal Charter, sections 4th and 5th, of making Laws 
with the Advice and Consent of the Assembly for 
raising Money for the Safety of the Country and other 
public uses according to their best discretion, is taken 
away by Proprietary Instructions enforced by penal 
Bonds, and restraining the Deputy from the use of 
his best discretion, tho being on the spot, he can 
better judge of the emergency, state and necessity of 
affairs, than the Proprietaries residing at a great dis- 
tance. That the indubitable right of the Assembly to 
judge of the Mode, Measure and time of Granting 
supplies, is infringed by Instructions that enjoin the 
Deputy to refuse his assent to any Bill for raising 
money, unless certain Modes, Measures and Times in 
such Instructions directed, make a part of the Bill 
whereby the Assembly in time of, war are reduced to 
the necessity of either losing the country to the 



THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT. 1/ 

Enemy, or giving up the Liberties of the People and 
receiving Law from the Proprietary. That the Pro- 
prietaries have enjoined their Deputy by secret in- 
structions to refuse his assent to any law for raising 
money by a Tax though ever so necessary for the 
Defence of the country, unless the greatest part of 
their estate is exempted from such tax. This to the 
Assembly and people of Pennsylvania appears both 
unjust and cruel. The Proprietaries are now re- 
quested seriously to consider these complaints and 
redress the aggrievances complained of in the most 
speedy and effectual Manner, that Harmony may be 
restored between the several Branches of the Legisla- 
ture and the Public service be hereafter readily and 
fully provided for." 

Sherman Day, in his able work on Pennsylvania, 
speaking of the troubles existing at this time, truth- 
fully remarks: ".On the one side was the proprietary 
family, with their feudal prerogatives, their manors 
of 10,000 acres, their quit-rents, and baronial pomp, 
— alienated in their sympathies from the colony — 
preferring the luxuries of aristocratic life in P!ngland, 
to the unostentatious manners of the new world — rul- 
ing the colonies by capricious deputies — and ever re- 
fusing to be taxed for the common defence of the 
country. On the other side was a hardy and enthu- 
siastic band of colonists, free in this new world to cle- 
velop the great principles of civil liberty, then just 
dawning upon the human mind — willing to bear their 



15 THE INDIAN WALK. 

share provided the proprietaries would consent to be 
equally taxed." 

In a letter from Thomas Penn, dated July i, 1755. 
to Isaac Norris, we take the following extract, from 
which it appears he was not by any means ignorant of 
the feeling engendered against himself and several of 
the family: "I am greatly concerned to find such a 
spirit of discontent gone forth in Pennsylvania, against 
us and our government, as I think we have not given 
any just cause for it. However, I hope the people 
themselves will soon be convinced they have been 
most grossly imposed upon." 

" In Franklin's day," remarks his biographer, James 
Parton, "the Proprietaries were two in number, 
Thomas Penn, who owned three-fourths of the prov- 
ince, and Richard Penn, who owned one-fourth. 
Thomas Penn was a man of business — careful, saving 
and methodical. Richard Penn was a spendthrift. 
Both were men of slender abilities, and not of very 
estimable character. But, unhappily, they cherished 
those erroneous tory notions of the rights of sover- 
eignity which Lord Bute infused into the contracted 
mind of George III., and which cost that dull and 
obstinate monarch his colonies. These Penns, in ad- 
dition to the pride of possessing acres by the million, 
felt themselves to be lords of the land they owned, 
and of the people who dwelt upon it. And it must 
be confessed, they were long upheld in this belief by 
the Pennsylvanians themselves. When one of the 
Proprietaries deigned to visit the province, he received 



THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT. 1 9 

the address, as a king might from his subjects, and 
replied to them with a brevity more than royal. The 
tone and style of all their later communications to the 
Pennsylvanians was that of offended lords to coun- 
tenanced vassals. And yet, at home, as William 
Franklin wrathfully records, they were so insignificant 
as 'hardly to be found in the herd of gentry; not in 
court, not in office, and not in parliament.' " 



CHAPTER II. 

THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIAN'S. 

We now come to the subject of what were the recog- 
nized rights of the Indians to the soil under the royal 
charter, and by the proprietaries, and what obligations 
the latter were under to observe justice towards them in 
taking their lands or disposing of them to others. It 
appears that the Dutch, from the earliest occupation 
of both sides of the Delaware, recognized a right in 
the Indians to the soil, by the repeated purchases made 
from them, up even to the mouth of the Schuylkill, 
previous to 1648. In the instructions from Queen 
Christina, of Sweden, in 1643, to Governor John Printz, 
he was particularly directed, in his dealings with the 
Indians, to confirm the former purchases of lands and 
treaties of peace, and as far as practicable to win them 
over to embrace Christianity and adopt the manners 
and customs of civilized life. The Rev. John Cam- 
panius. Chaplain of the Colony from 1642 to 1648, was 
so encouraged by the kindness and docility of the 
natives, that he learned their language and translated 
Luther's catechism into it, of which Charles XL, in 
1696, had 500 copies printed and sent over here to be 
distributed by his countr}men among the Indians with 



THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS. 2 1 

a view to their religious instruction and mental im- 
provement, though now for fourteen years the colony 
of Penn. We find a similar act of kindness exhibited 
by the small band of Moravians who first settled in 1 740 
within the present limits of Northampton county, and 
who through the long and devoted labors of that pi- 
ous missionary. David Zeisberger, established schools 
among them with spelling books and other works in 
their language, to advance their moral and intellectual 
condition. As we have examined the works of these 
Swedish and German missionaries, and reflected on 
the sway here of the Penns for nearly a century, the 
question would naturally arise, what acts of disinter- 
ested benevolence towards them did they or even the 
kings of England exhibit ? 

It was the fortune of William Penn in the formation 
of his colony to have dealings with the gentlest natives, 
and endowed with the noblest traits of all those found 
inhabiting the eastern portion of the present United 
States. The many acts of kindness exhibited to the 
early Swedish, P^nglish and German settlers of Penn- 
sylvania, and transmitted by them to us, if collected, 
would readily fill a volume; nay, the writings of Wil- 
liam Penn himself bear evidence of this, and are quite 
full on the subject. In corroboration of what has been 
said of the Delawares, we have also the high authority 
of General William H. Harrison, expressed as late as 
the beginning of this century, when it is likely that 
they may have become more corrupted by intercourse 
with the whites. "A long and intimate knowledge of 



2 2 THE INDIAN WALK. 

them, in peace and war, as enemies and friends, has 
left upon my mind the most favorable impressions of 
their character for bravery, and fidelity to their en- 
gagements." 

Among the papers of Thomas Penn was found a 
printed broadside, without date, but evidently before 
1750 ; and we have reason to believe, published as in- 
structions by order of the British government to the 
several proprietaries and governors, and from the na- 
ture of its injunctions kept confidential. The follow- 
ing is an extract: "From September, 1745, to the 
present time His Majesty's province of New Jersey is 
in open Rebellion ; and unless some speedy and effec- 
tual measures are soon taken, his Majesty's govern- 
ment, Laws and Authority, not only in this, but 
in the neighboring Provinces, whose inhabitants, for 
the most part, are but too well inclined to receive 
the infection, will in all probability be absolutely de- 
stroyed. The pretense for the Rebellion on foot is, 
that the Right to the soil of that Province is in the 
native Indians, and Persons claiming under them, and 
not in the Crown or its Grantees, and that no title is 
good but that from the Indians ; thus unhinging all 
Property there, denying the rights and prerogatives of 
the Crown, and setting up the Indian's Right in oppo- 
sition thereto." 

An examination of the royal charter shows nothing 
in it recognizing any right or title of the Indians what- 
ever to the soil, or that they possessed any other 
claims. Next we went over the " Frame of Govern- 



THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS. 23 

ment " prepared by Penn in 1682, and also the charters 
of 1686 and 1696; but with no more satisfaction. 
Again, in Smith's Laws of Pennsylvania, published in 
Philadelphia in 18 10 (Vol. ii, p. 137), is an able arti- 
cle on Indian titles, from which the following extract 
is taken : " By force of the royal charter, William Penn, 
and his successors as proprietaries were the undoubted 
lords of the soil. They stipulated, however, with the 
purchasers under them to extinguish the right of the 
natives. They alone had this power. No individual, 
without their authority, could purchase of the Indians; 
and the people themselves, by legislative acts, recog- 
nized and aided them to enforce this important prin- 
ciple." We readily admit the truth of the aforesaid, 
with but a single exception, that "They," the said 
proprietaries, " 5'/z/?//rt/'iY/ with the purchasers under 
them to extinguish the right of the natives." These 
stipulations we should like to see, as to their nature, 
and whether they were so worded as to show an intent 
to deal fairly and honorably. 

In respect to this we have the opinions of some of 
the most intelligent people in the colony at the very 
time that William Penn was with us, who publicly 
charged him with his conduct though members of 
the same religious denomination. Turning to the ap- 
pendix of Proud's History of Pennsylvania (Vol. 1 1 , 
p. 40), we find an address drawn up by the Assembly 
and signed by Joseph Growdon, Speaker, and delivered 
September 20, 1701, in contemplation of his speedy 
departure. Disposed to be brief, we shall only take a 



24 THE INDIAN WALK. 

short extract from it : " May it please the Governor. 
That before the Proprietary go to England, he grant 
us such an instrument as may absolutely secure and 
defend us in our estates and properties, from himself, 
his heirs and assigns, for ever, any claiming under, 
him, them, or any of them, as also to clear all Indian 
pmcliases and others." Though a reply was made to 
the address, no notice whatever of the aforesaid peti- 
tion, however just and reasonable, was taken, and so 
the Governor left it to his posterity, and they in turn, 
as we shall see, did not improve upon it. The mem- 
bers composing that Assembly nearly all belonged to 
the Society of Friends. They were good men and 
peaceably disposed, and would not have thus pressed 
on him a deferred matter at the very last opportunity, 
if they had not known injustice had been done the In- 
dians, which, if not checked in time, must end in open 
hostilities, and in consequence looked to the future 
with serious apprehensions. 

Without peace, Penn well knew that his interests 
must suffer, and seriously interfere in the disposal of 
lands to actual settlers and the peopling of his- colony. 
He knew the power he possessed and he meant to 
keep it, and consequently would purchase in his own 
luav and manner, as best suited him. It was a market 
in which he alone could bu\- if he desired, and in which 
there could even be no interference. This will account 
for the vagueness of the deeds of purchase and the 
tri\'ial nature of many of the articles paid, which some 
in their ignorance ha\'e gone so far as to call presents. 



THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS. 25 

as if no consideration had been given. Further, he 
could not well shirk the examples set by the repeated 
purchases made by the Dutch, Swedes and English 
before him, in now his own territory ; as in the case 
of Governor Andros, of New York, in 1679, of no in- 
considerable tract along the Delaware within the limits 
of the present Bucks county. 

There is no evidence that we know of before Penn's 
day of any dissatisfaction here on the part of the In- 
dians on this subject ; in proof they were easy to deal 
with and entertained every confidence. His corre- 
spondence during his residence here contains numer- 
ous aspersions of the character and dishonesty of those 
with whom he had dealings. An opinion of the man 
both in this and in many other respects may be formed 
from reading his correspondence with James Logan, 
lately published by the Historical Society in two 
volumes. This is also exhibited in his establishing 
" Courts of Inquiry" the loth of December, 1700, in 
the several counties, and appointing three judges to 
each with the intent of " examining, searching and in- 
quiring into the rights, titles and claims of all free- 
holders," and to make them produce their titles or 
claims to the same, and " also carefully to enquire into 
all escheats, fines and forfeitures " that are fallen to 
him and also of his quit-rents. To carry this into exe- 
cution they were empowered to call to their aid " all 
needful officers, especially ye Constables." But where 
was the power to similarly enquire as to his dealings 
with the Indians ? 



2 6 THE INDIAN WALK. 

By the deed of Jul\- 15, 1682, a purchase was made 
by his agent and cousin, WilHam Markham, from the 
mouth of the Neshaminy up the Delaware to a corner 
spruce tree standing on the river's bank " about Ma- 
keerickkitton and from thence running along the ledge 
or foot of the Mountains, West North West to a corner 
White Oak marked with the letter P, standing by the 
Indian Path that leadeth to an Indian Town called 
Playwicky, and from thence extending Westward to 
the Neshaminy Creek." This boundary or limit is 
copied from a paper furnished by the Penns and con- 
sequently should appear to be to their satisfaction. 
In vain, it would seem, have all efforts been made 
ever since by disinterested persons to satisfactorily es- 
tablish this line. Where it should really be we will 
not take upon us to say, but Benjamin Eastburn, the 
surveyor general and agent for the proprietaries, es- 
tablished it fifty-five years later evidently to his satis- 
faction and to that of his employers. This map, pre- 
pared expressly for Thomas Penn, and long in his 
possession and closely kept, has at last found its way 
back here again, and we have kindly been permitted 
to examine and cop)- it. To the surprise, we know, 
of many in that vicinity, this boundary is placed at or 
\'ery near Hough's creek on the Delaware, thence by 
the Newtown and Wrightstown township line to the 
Neshaminy. Comparing Thomas Holmes' Map of 
original purchasers with Eastburn's Map, confirms this 
opinion the more. Whatever views may be entertained 
or expressed hereafter as to the locality, we shall as- 



THE RIGHTS OK THE INDIANS. 27 

sume this as the proper line, and in consequence see 
here the cause for an early expression of dissatisfac- 
tion on the part of the Indians. 

John Chapman, in 1684, purchased a tract of up- 
wards of five hundred acres, located on the north side 
of said line, and on which he settled with his family. 
Though this land was here laid out to him, no satis- 
faction whatever had been made to the Indians for it, 
as well as that sold to all others settling in what are 
now the present townships of Wrightstown, Upper 
Makefield, Buckingham, Solebury and several others 
situated northwards. Samuel Smith, in his History 
of the Province of Pennsylvania (see Hazard's Reg- 
ister, Vol. I, p. 215), in speaking of Chapman's early 
settlement, goes on to say : " The Indians were now- 
numerous hereabouts, and used to frequent Chap- 
man's house in great companies as they had occasion 
to pass that way, but behaved themselves civilly. One 
of the Chiefs, however, one day coming to him, in an 
angry tone told him it was their land he was settled on, 
pointing to a small distance, where he said the bounds 
of the English purchase were, and borrowing an axe, 
marked a line to the southeast of his house, and went 
away without giving him any further trouble at that 
time." The chief aforesaid may possibly have been Id- 
quahon, also called Nicholas, a son of Tamany, and one 
of the signers to the deeds of July 15, 1682, and of July 
15, i694,andwould therefore be likely to have a knowl- 
edge of the true boundary, which agrees with that on 
Kastburn's map. In the Colonial Records (Vol. I, p. 



28 THE INDIAN WALK. 

396), we hav^e additional information about him. At 
a Council held in Philadelphia December 19, 1693 : 
" The informant, Polycarpus Rose, saith, that about 
five weeks since, having some discourse with a certain 
Indian King called Hicquoqueen, the said Indian re- 
sented the unkindness of the English to the Indians 
here, and further said, that they were not like to hold 
the Land much longer ; for that they were not satisfied 
for it." 

No satisfactory authority has yet been produced, 
that north from said line of Newtown township to the 
Delaware, and up along said river to the south side of 
the Lehigh hills above Durham, and thence westward, 
any purchase had ever been made of the Indians pre- 
vious to the deed of September 17, 17 18. Yet in the 
interval of 1682 to the aforesaid date, considerable of 
this land had been sold to speculators and actual set- 
tlers, by order of the Proprietary, William Penn, or 
his family, through their agents. This, it should be 
remembered, was done while he was living ; for he 
died July 30, 171 8, only forty-eight days before the 
completion of that purchase. That the Indians did 
not bear this very well we ha\e further evidence. 
John Streiper, a natix'c and resident of the Duchy of 
Julicrs, on the borders of Germany, in 1683, purchased 
of William Penn 5000 acres of land, which was located 
by the commissioners of property, and surveyed and 
laid off to him March 26, 1701, between the Tohickon 
creek and Delaware river, now in Tinicum township. 
Said tract was further confirmed to him under the 



THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS. 29 

great seal of the Province, June 24, 1705. Now, the 
said John Streiper, also his attorney, and after his 
death in 1717, his heirs, tried in various ways to sell 
it, but in vain, alleging that all their endeavors ''Jiad 
no effect, because of a claim made to the land by the In- 
dians, wlio say they never yet sold it.'' This matter, 
sorely against their wishes and earnest remonstrances, 
lingered till 1725, when it was, through the hands 
of James Logan, returned to the heirs of William 
Penn. We have in this a strong instance of a pow- 
erful, virtuous sentiment prevailing here among the 
mass of the people, not only in respecting their own 
rights but the rights of others. 

In making researches in the Bucks county records, 
a deed was found given by William Penn the 17th of 
I ith month, 1701 (see Deed Book 6, p. 275), for ;^ioo, 
to George Beale, of Surry, England, for 3000 acres of 
land " to be clear of Indian Incumbrances, in said prov- 
ince, between the rivers of Susquehanna and Dela- 
ware." This is the only instance in our knowledge of 
any stipulation whatever from Penn respecting the In- 
dian title. His vexatious and numerous lawsuits, pe- 
cuniary embarrassments, increasing debts and extrava- 
gant children, may have brought him to this issue, 
with a purchaser whose will was fully as strong as his 
own when the choice was presented of no sale or such 
conditions. 

The relations existing between the Penns and the 
colonists were unfortunate. By their actions the for- 
mer exhibited, beyond their own interests, but little 



T,0 THE INDIAN WALK. 

regard for the rights of either the Indians or the peo- 
ple. Coming here on occasional visits, when it suited 
them, and with attachments so strong for the old world 
that even the bodies of those of the family dying were 
sent back for interment, we need not wonder that the 
people cared as little for them, and were made still 
worse by their own profligate conduct. The royal 
charter sets forth that it is to indulge the desires of 
William Penn in enlarging the bounds of the British 
Empire and to civilize the savage natives there, as 
among the reasons for giving him the grant. It might 
now well be asked : What was even attempted in the 
way of civilizing the Indians ? Yet it would appear 
as one of the reasons pleaded b}' him in his petition to 
the King. 

As a sneer at Christianity ,Voltaire said, nearly a cen- 
tury after the occurrence, that Penn's great treaty with 
the Indians had been the first not ratified by an oath 
and never broken. Such a random conjecture, however 
eloquent it may sound, scarcely merits a reply. To 
know whether it was not broken, if there really was 
such a one, even shortly after it was made, lae must 
possess (he evidence on what it zvas founded and the ob- 
ligations there entered into by the contracting parties. 
That there has never been anything of the kind since 
produced to either justify or establish such claims, is 
well known. As other documents have been ab- 
.stracted, forbidden inspection, and missing, in relation 
to certain interests, why may not this too explain in 
part the mysteries that have ever since invested the 



THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS. 31 

great treaty, and about which so much has been said 
and httle or nothing known ? The charges and ap- 
prehensions of the Assembly on this subject, so pub- 
licly expressed, and to which Penn did not deign even 
an allusion, and the selling of lands to speculators and 
actual settlers without regard to the claims of the In- 
dians being first satisfied, is too strong for an impartial 
historian to pass by or to justify. 

Respecting the merits of William Penn in his deal- 
ings with the Indians, Peter Du Ponceau and J. Fran- 
cis Fisher, in "A Memoir on the Celebrated Treaty " 
(see Memoirs of Hist. Soc. Penn., Vol. Ill, p. 192), 
make these sensible remarks : " We must observe in 
the first place that it is not on this treaty that depends 
the fame of our illustrious founder, nor is it on his 
having purchased his lands of the Indians ; instead of 
taking them by force. Others before him, had made 
treaties of friendship and of alliance with the original 
possessors of the American soil ; others had obtained 
their lands from them by fair purchase ; in Penn- 
sylvania the Swedes, the Dutch and the P^nglish, who 
governed the country during the space of eighteen 
years under the Duke of York, had pursued the same 
peaceable system ; it is, therefore, not only unjust, but 
it is extremely injudicious, to endeavor to ascribe to 
William Penn the exclusive merit of a conduct pointed 
out, not only by the plainest rules of justice and the 
example of his predecessors, but also by prudence and 
the soundest policy, particularly when it is considered 
how much easier and cheaper it was to purchase the 



32 THE INDIAN WALK. 

lands of these savage tribes than to attempt to take 
them by force, which in tlie infancy of colonies would 
not have been an easy task." 

James Logan, in a letterto James Steel, dated Phila- 
delphia, November i8,*i729, remarks : " Save it is now 
not only Sassoonan our \^ery good friend and his peo- 
ple of our own Indians that we have to deal with but 
the lands also on Delaware above Tohickon creek 
must be purchased of others. But the main business 
of all is to induce John Penn himself to come over. 
The Indians all expect him next spring, every body 
expects him and it is in \-ain for him to expect that 
others wall do his business for him." Here is a can- 
did admission from one who had been so long Penn's 
secretary that, even down to 1729, the Indians had 
not been treated with, or paid, for lands above To- 
hicon, and for which they have always contended, yet 
considerable tracts had there for sometime previously 
been sold. 

A petition dated 13th of 9th month, 173 1, was sent 
to John, Thomas and Richard Penn, by Isaac Norris, 
Samuel Preston and James Logan, wherein they say : 
" We have divers times jointly, but we suppose James 
Logan oftener, represented to you the state of this 
Province and the necessity there appeared that one of 
you should hasten over as well to settle your affairs 
of Property as to enter on Treaties and to take meas- 
ures with tlie native Indians for continuing that peace 
and good understanding \\ith them, and these repre- 
sentations we hoped would ha\-e had the desired effect. 



THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS. 33 

But your coming being from time to time deferred we 
thought it proper that James Steel, now two years ago, 
should take a voyage over in order more earnestly to 
press and if possible prevail with you to resolve on it 
without more delay, and on the account he gave us at 
his return we fully depended on seeing Thomas the 
same fall, but with the following spring and another 
fall are all passed away without now giving us much 
more hopes of what has been so long expected as 
three or four years ago. But a treaty we must have 
with them if possible if we would expect to continue 
in any manner of safety." What evidences we see 
herein of dissatisfaction on the part of the Indians 
through the continued neglect or indifference of the 
Penns,thus promoting with the increase of population 
the encroachments of the whites and inciting the In- 
dians to hostilities in self defence. 

The Delaware Indians, having become independent 
of the Six Nations, induced Thomas and Richard Penn 
as proprietaries to issue to them a most flattering 
" Address " from London February 28, 1759, from 
which we give an extract in contrast with the aforesaid : 
" To our Friends and Brethren the Indians of the Dela- 
ware Nation. We assure you since you have chose to 
lay this matter before the King we will answer it as 
speedily as possible and do every thing to shew you and 
all the W'orld our desire to act a fair honest and kind 
part by you, and do expect when you shall be satisfied 
that we have not been guilty of so base an act as to 
forge or alter a Deed, that you will openly and plainly 



34 THE INDIAN WALK. 

declare such your belief. As you are now restored by 
the consent of the Six Nations to tlie power of hold- 
ing Treaties, we shall alwa\'s confer with you with 
great pleasure." The principal aim of this was, of 
course, for affect among the colonists here, to mollify 
censure. 

As a result of the complaints of the Delaware In- 
dians before Sir William Johnson at Easton in June, 
1762, a Royal Proclamation from George III. was is- 
sued dated October 7, 1763, which was required b\' 
order of the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plan- 
tations to be published by Gov. John Penn. From 
this we take an extract seeming to reflect on the con- 
duct of the proprietaries : " And whereas great Frauds 
and Abuses have been committed in the purchasing 
Lands of the Indians ; in order therefore to prevent 
such irregularities for the future and to the end that 
the Indians may be convinced of our justice, and de- 
termined Resolution to remove all reasonable Cause 
of Discontent, We do, with the Advice of our Privy 
Council, strictly enjoin and require, that no private 
person do presume to make an}' Purchase from the 
said Indians of any lands reserved to the said Indians 
within those Parts of our Colonies where we have 
thought proper to allow settlement ; but that if, at any 
Time, any of the said Indians should be inclined to 
dispose of the said Lands, the same shall be purchased 
only for us, in Our Name, at some public Meeting or 
Assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that pur- 
pose by the Governor or Commander-in-Chief of our 



THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS. 35 

Colonies respectively, within which they shall lie ; and 
in case they shall lie within the limits of any Proprie- 
taries, conformable to such Directions and Instructions 
as we or they shall think proper to give for that pur- 
pose." Here is seen, probably for the first time, some 
acknowledgment on the part of the Royal Govern- 
ment that the Indians did possess some right to the 
soil. But it came rather too late for justice and good 
faith to the few dwindling natives who had survived 
the Walk of more than a quarter of a century before, 
with the exterminating wars waged almost continu- 
ously against them from 1754 to the date of this pro- 
clamation. 



CHAPTER III. 

LANDS SOLD NOT GRANTED BY THE INDIANS. 

As has been stated, all lands located and sold by 
the proprietary or his agents between the years 1682 
and 1 71 8, north of the Newtown township line and 
Hough's creek, thence extending up the Delaware river 
to the south side of the Lehigh hills and for some dis- 
tance westward, were so disposed of without any title 
from the Indians and, as we may well suppose, with- 
out their knowledge or consent. No satisfactory e\i- 
dence has yet been produced to the contrary in the 
long lapse of time passed away, and we now come to 
show that this unjust practice was knowingly contin- 
ued by the sons of William Penn. 

From the foot of the hills below the Lehigh and ex- 
tending up along the Delaware to the extreme north- 
ern line of Pennsylvania, and thence westward from 
said river to the limits of the province, there is no 
proof by an}- deeds on record or any other convey- 
ances, that previous to the satisfactory adjustment of 
the Walk of September 19 and 20, 1737, based on the 
deed of August 25th preceding, any Indian title or 
claim whatever had been extinguished to even a por- 
tion of this territorv in all of said inter\'al. Yet with 



LANDS SOLD NOT GRANTED. T^y 

the same recklessness or disregard for consequences 
the Penns continued selhng to speculators and actual 
settlers as it best suited them. There is something 
remarkable about the deed of July 30, 171 8 — that the 
proprietaries should in no way make any reference to 
it in their subsequent dealings with the Indians. 

James Logan, so long the secretary of William Penn, 
principal commissioner of lands, and agent of Indian 
affairs, demands our first attention. These offices we 
believe Logan held till on or near the close of his life 
in 175 I. Turning to Smith's Laws of Pennsylvania 
(Vol. II., p. 113), the following information will be 
found respecting Indian complaints, with this gentle- 
man's reply: "When the natives sold their lands, it 
was understood distinctly, that the white people should 
not settle or encroach upon their hunting grounds, and 
the lands reserved by them; nor was a single attempt 
thus to settle, unattended by complaints and uneasi- 
ness. The Indians observed their treaties with fidel- 
ity, and the boundaries appear to have been always 
accurately understood by them. The settlers notwith- 
standing encroached on the Indian lands beyond this 
boundary which occasioned great anxiety and uneasi- 
ness among the Delawares. The complaints of the 
aged Sassoonan were eloquent and pathetic." 

At the treaty at Philadelphia, in 1728, Sassoonan, 
addressing himself to James Logan, said "That he was 
grown old, and was troubled to see the Christians set- 
tle on lands that the Indians had never been paid for; 
they had settled on his lands, for which he had never re- 



J 



8 THE INDIAN WALK. 



ceived an}-thing; that he was now an old man, and 
must soon die; that his children may wonder to see 
all their father's lands gone from them without his 
receiving any thing for them ; that the Christians 
made their settlements very near them, and they 
would have no place of their own left to live on ; 
that this might occasion a difference between their 
children hereafter, and he would w'illingly prevent 
any misunderstanding that might happen." Mr. Lo- 
gan, with the leave of the Governor, answered that 
"William Penn had made it a rule, never to suffer 
any lands to be settled by his people, till they were 
first purchased of the Indians; that his commission- 
ers had followed the same rule." Now for a test as 
to said reply and that he did knowingly purchase and 
deal in such lands not only for himself but for others. 
On the 29th of December, 1702, Mr. Logan pur- 
chased of the Commissioners of Property, Edward 
Shippen, Griffith Owen and himself, five hundred 
acres, at the Great Spring, in Solebury township, 
Rucks county, and which he some time afterwards 
by will donated to the Philadelphia Library. As 
one of the said commissioners he sold considerable 
more to others in that section and further north; for 
instance, the same year five hundred and eighty acres 
to William Beeks, and in 1703 twenty-five hundred 
acres to John White, near the present Lumberville. 
We believe he was also one of the same who sold in 
1 701 to John Streiper five thousand acres above the 
mouth of the Tohickon, and ten thousand acres No- 



LANDS SOLD NOT GRANTED. 39 

vember 16, 1727, to William Penn, Jr., located be- 
tween the mouth of the Lehigh and Lackawaxen. 
Here are certainly strong and grave charges, and 
they show complicity with the proprietaries through 
his official relations. 

In a tolerably lengthy report of a committee of As- 
sembly to Sir William Johnson, dated Easton, June 
22, 1762, and signed by John Hughes, Joseph Gallo- 
way, Edward Pennington, John Morton, Joseph Fox, 
Samuel Rhoads, Giles Knight and Isaac Pearson, we 
believe nearly all Friends, his conduct is further ex- 
posed. "To confirm," they say, "what we have al- 
ready offered, we also lay before you a copy of a let- 
ter, compared with the original now in our hands, 
wrote by James Logan, Elsquire, formerly President 
of the Council of this Province, secretary to the Gov- 
ernor and near forty years Commissioner of Property 
under the Proprietaries, directed to Thomas Watson, 
declaring that the lands four miles above on the Le- 
high Mountains and to the south of the Forks of the 
Delaware were not on the 20th of November, 1727, 
nine years after the deed of 1718, and forty-one years 
after the Deed of 1686, purchased from the Indians; 
and therefore forbade the said Watson who was then 
the Proprietary Surveyor for Bucks county, to survey 
the same for one Joseph Wheeler." 

If he was " near forty years commissioner of pro- 
perty," as is stated, and which we do not question, he 
must have been instrumental in knowingly selling in 
said time many thousands of acres of such lands, be- 



40 THE INDIAN WALK. 

sides what he may have bought himself. We have 
also proof in the case of John Streiper, even some time 
before 171 7, about the Indian complaints at Tohickon, 
that none of this land had in any way been cleared 
from their claims. To rebut in any way the aforesaid 
and what follows can only be done by records of the 
time, that all of said tracts had been first previously 
honorably purchased and paid for to the full satisfac- 
tion of the Indians. Of course the due recording and 
preserving of such contracts lay with the proprietaries, 
who alone had the power and whose interest it was. 
Of his eldest son, William Logan, however, we shall 
have good words. He was awhile at first in the Gov- 
ernor's council, but shortly after the death of his father 
and a further acquaintance with the conduct of Thomas 
Penn to the Indians, he openly opposed him, and the 
result was a sharp correspondence on the subject; but 
it sealed his fate in the future as to any favors from 
that source. 

That James Logan was not ignorant of the com- 
plaints of the Indians and how far he was a party in 
the disposal of their lands will be further revealed in 
the following extracts taken from his correspondence. 
On the 20th of Ninth-month, 1727, he wrote to Jacob 
Taylor, the Surveyor General: "I have directed our 
overseer Wm. Foy at Durham to supply you there- 
with whatsoever you may want that they may have, 
and particularly to deliver you four of the best strowds 
blue and red for the present. It will require some 
caution in managing the survey which )'ct ought to 



LANDS SOLD NOT GRANTED. 4 1 

be effectually done to prevent uneasiness to the Indians, 
but you will want no advice on that head. I heartily 
wish you success and a safe return." Five days later he 
wrote to John Penn in England: "There is not above 
two or three thousand acres of that rich land and the ad- 
joining is all rocks and hills, yet it is not above sixty 
miles or thereabouts from Hudson's river. The Dutch 
people of New York government set a very great value 
upon it and were it clear of Indian claims would sell 
for good pay and at a high rate, perhaps 60 or 70^' per 
100 acres if not more. Those bottoms, I mean, for 
the rest is good for nothing. I wish we may get the 
survey completed without any opposition from the 
Indians for which I have taken all possible precautions 
and these lands will be William's." On December 6th 
following, Logan wrote agtin: " Late last night Jacob 
Taylor and company returned from their journey up 
the river to lay out those low lands on Delaware to 
thy nephew William, in which they had no other suc- 
cess than with a present to the Indians of about 6£ 
value. The Indians would suffer no manner of sur- 
vey to be made there on any account whatsoever. 
There never was any pretence of a purchase made on 
thy Father's account within thirty miles of the nearest 
of these Indian settlements." 

In regard to planning the Walk and in making the 
most of it, few could be more pecuniarily interested 
than William Allen, and in this respect he is placed 
next only to Thomas Penn, who was the head and 
power behind the throne. Though a native of Phila- 



42 THE INDIAN WALK. 

delphia, for a long time through his wealth and posi- 
tion he wielded a great influence. No man in the pro- 
vince was more devoted, right or wrong, to the inter- 
ests of the Penns; it was in fact the leading motive of 
his life. The result was the reward of great favors 
and official position. To show further his intimate 
relations wath the family, Governor John Penn, the 
grandson of the founder and the offerer of rewards for 
Indian scalps, was married to his daughter Ann. His 
wife was Margaret, the sister of Governor James Ham- 
ilton, who also owed his elevation to the same source. 
These matters are all essential to a knowledge of what 
in modern parlance are called "ring movements." Mr. 
Allen figures so much from the very beginning of the 
Walk to its close, that for the present we will only 
dwell superficially on his immense dealings in lands 
uiipiircliased from the Indians. Could the whole be 
brought together and investigated, the result of his 
operations would be astonishing and would show an 
amount of injustice scarcely to be imagined. 

William Penn, the founder, by \\\\\ granted to his 
grandson, William Penn, Jr., ten thousand acres, w hich 
the latter sold to Mr. Allen, August 29, 1728. As 
soon as selected it was laid out by warrant to Jacob 
Taylor, the surve)'or general, dated November 16, 
1727. Perhaps the first thus taken up inside of a 
year from this date, was part of a larger tract, but we 
know by the Bucks county records (see Deed Book, 
No. 6, pp. 86,87), that this portion comprised over 
three-hundred acres in the .Minisink region, some dis- 



LANDS SOLD NOT GRANTED. 43 

tance above the Water Gap. This was sold Septem- 
ber 10, 1733, to Nicholas Depue. The information in 
this grant is very important, for just such proceedings 
have involved civilized nations of latter times in war, 
and no doubt was one of the causes that led not long 
afterwards to such savage attacks on the devoted set- 
tlers by the exasperated Indians, who had been de- 
prived of their favorite hunting grounds. First is 
mentioned an "Island situate in the river Delaware, 
commonly called Mawwallamink, lying opposite to 
the Plantation where the said Nicholas Depue now 
dwels and contains 126 acres. The second Island 
called the Great Shawna Island, is situated in the 
river Delaware over against the Shaivna Toivn, con- 
taining 146 acres. The third tract or Island situated 
between the creeks or small Branches of the said 
Riv^er Delaware and bounded by the same and the 
adjacent land to the southward being lately held by 
John Smith, and that to the Northward is the said 
Shawna Town, containing 31 acres." These bounds 
are certainly obscure, and it is hard to tell whether 
this town or Indian settlement is included ; but it is 
immaterial, though in a time of peace it was certainly 
very closely encompassed. In it is this strange pro- 
viso, that betrays something wrong: "The said three 
islands or tracts of land hereby granted or mentioned 
to be granted, with their appurtenances, unto the said 
Nicholas Depue, his heirs and assigns, against him 
the said William Allen and his heirs and the heirs of 
the said William Penn, Esq., and against all and e\'ery 



44 Tine INDIAN WALK. 

other person and persons whatsoever Lawfully claim- 
ing or to claim by, from or. under him, them, or an\' 
of them, shall and will warrant and forever defend b\" 
these presents." Here is evidence, that should the 
Indians resist or attempt at any time to retake said 
Islands by force, the said Allen and the Penns "would 
warrant and forever defend" it against all others ex- 
cept those holding from him. Judging by this, the 
great land speculator must have had something simi- 
lar from the proprietaries. The aforesaid Indian town 
was no doubt the same spoken of by Thomas Budd in 
1685, which he says was called the Minesinks, imme- 
diately on the river side, in a rich section of countr\- 
and about eighty miles above the falls of the Delaware. 
\^an Der Donck goes still farther back, and mentions 
it in 1656. From time immemorial, this section was 
a favorite hunting ground of the Indians, who would 
not therefore be readily induced to part with it. 

These operations were so extensive that we shall now 
only briefly notice them while going superficially over 
the records. There was also a considerable tract of 
land laid out for the same purchaser about the same 
time by said Surveyor General, about twenty-four miles 
above the Blue Mountains, from which Mr. Allen, in 
1751, sold thirty-one acres to Andrew Dingman, who 
established here what has been so long known as 
Dingman's Ferry. The forming of this tract no 
doubt was wh)' the line from the end of the Walk 
was made to run at right angles so as to terminate 
about the mouth of the Lackawa.xen, and would then 



LANDS SOLD NOT GRANTED. 45 

be embraced inside of said limits, and be rid of In- 
dian claims. This we believe has heretofore escaped 
all writers on the Indian Walk — that Allen held 
lands so far up nine years before said occurrence. ''By 
order of yohii, Thomas and Richard Pinny there was 
surveyed and located five thousand acres of land "sit- 
uated in the Forks of the Delaware River, according 
to a draft of Benjamin Eastburn, surveyor general." 
This tract was conveyed by James Logan and Peter 
Lloyd, attorneys for Letitia Aubrey, to Mr. Allen, on 
the loth of April, 1735, and by him sold for twenty- 
two hundred pounds sterling "to George Whitefield 
of the Province of Georgia, April 30, 1740." This 
purchase appears, by tracing the title, to hav^e formed 
the present township of Upper Nazareth, and in which 
also the town of Nazareth is situated, being a very de- 
sirable tract. 

In regard to the latter transaction, John Heckewel- 
der (Hist. Indian Nations, Phila., 18 19, p. 337), gives 
us the following additional information: "In the year 
1742, the Rev. Mr. Whitefield offered Nazareth Manor, 
as it was then called, for sale to the United Brethren. 
He had already begun to build upon it a spacious stone 
house, intended for a school house for the education 
of negro children. The Indians, in the meanwhile, 
loudly exclaimed against the white people for settling 
in this part of the country, which had not yet been 
legally purchased of them, but, as they said, had been 
obtained by fraud. The brethren declined purchasing 
any lands on which the Indian title had not been prop- 



46 THE INDIAN WALK. 

erly extint^uished, wishing to live in peace with all the 
Indians around them. Count Zinzendorff happened 
at that time to arrive in the country; he found that 
the agents of the proprietaries would not pay the In- 
dians the price which they asked for that tract of land ; 
he paid them out of his private purse the whole of the 
demand which they made in the height of their ill tem- 
per, and moreover gave them permission to abide on 
the land, at their village, where they had a fine large 
peach orchard, as long as they should think proper." 
He then mentions that, owing to their highly re- 
spected chief, Tademi, being murdered by a white 
man, together with the threats of other persons ill dis- 
posed towards them, was the cause of leaving their 
settlement on this manor, and removing to places of 
greater safety. These statements are also corroborated 
by Loskiel in his History of Indian Missions, Crantz's 
History of the Moravians, and Spangenberg's Life of 
Count Zinzendorf. 

Thomas Penn, by a warrant given at Philadelphia, 
February 24, 1736, directs the aforesaid Surveyor Gen- 
eral to further lay off and survey for Mr. Allen, " 3000 
acres in six parcels or tracts of 500 acres each, situate 
upon or near the West Branch of the Delaware in our 
county of Bucks, for which he has paid 465 pounds 
current money and has requested us to issue our War- 
rant to establish said surveys." These tracts, it is be- 
lieved, were situated in or near the present towns of 
Bethlehem and Allentown. We find also at the same 
time other tracts were surveyed in the same vicinity; 



LANDS SOLD NOT GRANTED. 47 

as, for instance, two thousand acres to Thomas Gramme, 
two thousand acres to James Bingham, fifteen hundred 
to Caspar Wistar, one thousand to James Hamilton, 
and one thousand to Patrick Greeme. The conduct of 
Allen has been pretty severely handled by Charles 
Thomson in his "Alienation of the Indians," and by 
Sherman Day, as well as by other writers, and we be- 
lieve his course has never been defended even b)' his 
friends. His life, however, had its vicissitudes, for 
after being chief justice of the province for twenty-four 
years, on account of his tory principles, he fled at the 
commencement of the Revolution to England, where 
he died an exile to his native land. We find by the 
records that Thomas Penn granted to Ferdinand John 
Paris and John Page, his particular friends and attorn- 
eys, residing in London, fifteen-hundred acres each. 
That of the former was located on the Delaware, about 
six or eight miles above the present town of Easton, 
and the other we believe between the present towns 
of Bethlehem and Nazareth. It appears also, that in 
the following year considerable was surveyed and laid 
off to purchasers and settlers in the vicinity of the lat- 
ter place, b)' Nicholas Scull as deputy for Benjamin 
PLastburn. 

In a joint letter from John, Thomas and Richard 
Penn, in P^ngland, to James Logan, dated January 
20, 1 73 1, is found this extract: "We observe what 
you write about the warrant to John Page and we 
only give it to .secure him that land when the Indian 
Claims can be taken off He himself tells us he 



48 THE INDIAN WALK. 

would much rather lose the land than it should 
occasion disputes between the Indians and us and 
we think it very reasonable that after that is made 
easy he should have it, for which purpose we have 
given him fresh warrants endorsed on the back that 
they are not to operate till those disputes are settled 
and then the surveyor is immediately to finish and 
return the survey." "The Manor of Chawton," Mr. 
Page's tract of fifteen-hundred acres, was patented to 
him, September 11, 1735, and located between the 
Hockendauqua creek and the Lehigh. The patent 
for Mr. Parris' tract was given at the same time, and 
mentions "that in consideration of the many faithful 
services to us rendered and as an instance of our 
friendship and regard to him." The requirement, 
however, was to pay a yearly quit-rent of one shilling 
sterling, for every one-hundred acres. Recorded in 
Patent Book A., vol. 7, p. 68, September 18, 1735. 
What a deliberate falsehood is here exposed by their 
own statements. 

We have been struck by the various ingenious ef- 
forts at this time used by the principal actors to con- 
ceal the dates of their transactions, so as to cover the 
nature of the offences. As an instance the following 
abridgment from the Bucks county records: "On 
the 5th of December, 1740, for the consideration of 
iJ^ioo currency, William Allen and wife Margaret 
convey to Issac Iselstein of Bucks county, yeoman, 
178 acres, and an island containing about 10 acres, in 
said West Branch of Delaware Ri\er, which said Tract 



LANDS SOLD NOT GRANTED. 49 

and island were laid out to the said William Allen 
under the right of John and Ann Sharlot Lowther to 
5000 acres in the Province aforesaid, with all houses 
and improvements." As this was Mr. Allen's deed, 
we must conclude that it was his work, and will 
equally apply to him in quite a number of other cases. 
This grant no doubt was made to him sometime be- 
fore the Walk of September, 1737. However, this 
appears more obvious in the records and documents 
of Thomas Penn, and which ha\'e so lately passed out 
of the family, after being so long and closely kept. 
They are complete from 1701 to 1779, with the ex- 
ception of from July 2, 1736, to November, 1738, 
which are wholly missing, and were no doubt inten- 
tionally destroyed between the years 1756 and 1759, 
to prevent investigation and exposure. Transactions 
between March 23, 1729, and September 10, 1735, are 
lumped together, but before and after these dates they 
are readily understood, and names of purchasers, dates, 
areas and localities, are fully specified. 

A letter was .sent by the Delaware Indians to Chief 
Justice Jeremiah Langhorne, dated Smithfield, March 
26, 1 74 1, wherein they complain that there was "about 
one hundred families of whites settled on their lands 
which these folks say Thomas Penn had sold them the 
land. If he has it never was his to sell, that their lands 
extend down along the Delaware to the mouth of the 
Tohickon, thence up said .stream to its very source, 
thence by a straight line to Patquating.and thence by 
a straight line to the Blue Mountains, thence to a place 



50 THE INDIAN WALK. 

called Mahaning, thence along a mountain called Nes- 
samack, thence along the great swamp to a branch of 
Delaware river, and so to the Delaware to the place of 
beginning. They state that they had sold the tract at 
Durham, Nicholas Dupue's and Weiser's tracts, and 
now desire that Thomas Penn would take these people 
off from our land in peace, if not that they would be 
compelled to do it, but would prefer to live in peace 
and friendship." This in the end proved no idle threat 
to the unfortunate settlers thereon, for it was here 
that the Delawares fought with the most determined 
fury for the recovery of their favorite hunting grounds, 
of which the avariciousness and trickery of the Penns 
and their officials had dispossessed them, and that too 
by force through a connivance with the more power- 
ful Iroquois. 

A Council was held with the Indians in Philadel- 
phia, July 6, 1742, by Governor Thomas, at which 
were present Sassoonan, Nutimus and other chiefs. 
( )n this occasion Canassatego, chief of the Onanda- 
goes, made a speech in behalf of the Delawares: "We 
know," he said, "our lands are now becoming more 
valuable. The white people think we do not know 
their value, but we are sensible that the land is ever- 
lasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon 
worn out and gone. For the future we will sell no 
lands but when Brother Onas is in the country; 
and will know beforehand the quantity of the goods 
we are to receive. Besides we are not well used with 
respect to the lands still unsold by us. Your people 



LANDS SOLD NOT GRANTP:i). 5 I 

daily settle on these lands and spoil our hunting. We 
must insist 6n your removing them, as you know they 
have no right to settle to the nothward of Kittoch- 
tinny Hills. We desire they may forthwith be made 
to go off the land, for they do great damage to 
our cousins the Delawares." Here several grave 
charges are made ; one that they had not received the 
amount of goods promised them for their lands. We 
also perceive that he was ignorant of the claim set up 
by the proprietaries through the Walk to all that sec- 
tion by the extraordinary manner they had the head 
line extended. 

As to the character of Thomas Penn on these mat- 
ters, Robert Vaux, in a discourse delivered before the 
Historical Society (Memoirs, Vol. ii, p. 31) January 
I, 1827, gives the following account: "The proprietor 
had several meetings with the Indians, in order to ar- 
range their land affairs, which, however, did not result 
to their satisfaction. He also, with a view to raise 
money, devised a lottery for the disposal of one hun- 
dred thousand acres of land. This was an original at- 
tempt to introduce legalized gambling into Pennsyl- 
vania, and though the mischievous plan was frustrated, 
the mere proposition, seriously, and with good reason, 
impaired the confidence which some of the people of 
the province had been wont to repose in the proprie- 
tary. Part of the land selected for prizes in the con- 
templated raffle, lay within the region claimed by the 
natives, who, on being apprised of the fact, uttered 
loud complaints, and for the first time threatened to 



52 THE INDIAN WALK. 

resist any invasion of their territory. Thomas Penn's 
visit to the province certainly did not contribute to 
strengthen the friendship of the Indians, and when lie 
returned to England in 1741, the Assembly in address- 
ing him, said 'whatever differences of opinion may 
have happened between us, we hope thou wilt believe 
the freemen of the province retain a proper regard for 
the proprietary.' Plainly showing that a disagreement 
had existed, and that their separation was not on the 
cordial terms of their meeting." We see in this state- 
ment a resemblance to the final departure of his father 
in 1 70 1. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE TRIAL WALK. 

William Penn died July 30, 171 8, at the age of 74 
years, leaving six children. The Province of Penn- 
sylvania he bequeathed to the three sons of his second 
marriage, John, Thomas and Richard, giving to the 
eldest a double portion. John, who thus became the 
proprietor of one -half the province, died in 1746, 
and left his whole estate to his brother Thomas. The 
latter came over to attend to affairs here in August, 
1732, and remained till August, 1741 ; making a stay 
of nine years. John, the elder brother, arrived here 
in September, 1734, and returned near the close of 
that month in the following year to P^ngland to op- 
pose the pretensions of Lord Baltimore respecting 
the boundaries of Maryland. These were the only 
visits they made here. In the case of John Penn, as 
will be observed, the stay was quite brief Thomas 
Penn was a shrewd, designing, close-fisted business 
man. His character has been pretty severely spoken 
of by Benjamin Franklin, Charles Thomson, John F. 
Watson, Sherman Day and others. He was here in 
the interval of 1732 and 1741, a very interesting period, 
and long enough to get sufficiently acquainted to cause 



54 'I'HE INDIAN WALK. 

considerable trouble to the colonists and the Indians. 
On his arrixal he was thirty-one years of age and old 
enough to have shown more discretion. 

We have said that there had been a great deal of 
mystery about the Indian Walk; its date, beginning 
and ending have alike puzzled the ablest minds with- 
out thinking there was a design in it. W^e now come 
to a still greater mystery, the Trial Walk; the truth 
of which the private papers of Thomas Penn have at 
last revealed. The great wonder is how this could be 
so long and completely kept a secret by those engaged 
in it; that in the great investigation from 1756 to 1760, 
or later, on the misgovernment of the Penns, it should 
have escaped also the notice of such men as Benjamin 
Franklin, Charles Thomson, Isaac Norris, Israel Pem- 
berton, Thomas Lightfoot, the Friendly Association, 
and a host of others, so ardently engaged in ferreting 
out their abuses. 

Soon after his arrival, and ev^en sometime before, as 
we have shown, the attention of Thomas Penn was 
called by his particular friends to the Indian com- 
jjlaints and the encroachments of speculators and set- 
tlers on their lands, which, if not soon satisfactorily 
adjusted, might terminate in open hostilities and war. 
In October, 1734, John and Thomas Penn, by appoint- 
ment, met the Indians at Durham, where a company 
had purchased a desirable tract containing six thous- 
and acres, before 1727, and erected iron works thereon. 
As James Logan, one of the proprietary commissioners 
of property, ^nd William Allen, of whom we have 



THE TRIAL WALK. 55 

already spoken, were among these purchasers, it 
may not appear so strange that on dividing it De- 
cember 24, 1773 (Bucks Co. Records, Deed Book 
F, p. 192), it was found to contain eight thousand 
Jive hundred and eleven acres and one hundred perches. 
What was said and done at the meeting here has 
never been made public. It is known that Tishco- 
han and Nutimus were present, and that the prelim- 
inaries relating to the Indian Walk must have been ar- 
ranged, and another meeting agreed upon the follow- 
ing spring at Pennsbury. But before that meeting 
was to take place a trial or experimental walk was de- 
termined on as quietly as possible, and, of course, un- 
known to the Indians. Without further introduction 
we are now brought to this subject. 

The earliest mention we have found relating in any 
way to this Walk, is in an account of having paid 
"April 12, 1735, Timo. Smith, Expenses on travelling 
ye Indian Purchase ;^5," and six days afterwards for 
"sundries" sent the same £2 s\\. The gentleman 
here mentioned was a resident of the present township 
of Upper Makefield, and at this time the high sheriff 
of Bucks county, owing his commission to his em- 
ployer, who had appointed him, with James Steel his 
receiver general, to conduct and oversee this walk with 
the assistance of John Chapman, of Wrightstown, dep- 
uty surveyor of the county. Smith, with his assist- 
ants, must have commenced near the beginning of 
April to locate and clear the route for travelling the 
line. To a manuscript book (p. 137), written by John 



56 THE INDIAN WALK, 

Watson, afterwards deputy surveyor of the same 
county, we are indebted for some important informa- 
tion which he copied from Chapman's memoranda 
made while engaged in this work : 

" From Wrightstown, where the first Indian purchase 
came to, to Pkimstead, is a Httle to the North of the 
North West along the Road 9 or 10 miles, and the 
sev^eral Cources of the Road from Pkimstead to Cata- 
tuning Hills (Blue Mountain) is North West 8 miles to 
the head of Perkiomen Branch, North West by North 
4 miles to Stokes' Meadow, North I mile by the old 
Draught. North North West 16 miles to the West 
Branch, then by the same North 30 chains, North 
North West 25 chains. North West 6 chains, North 
90 chains, North North West 117 chains, North 74 
chains, North North P^ast 30 chains, North West by 
North 410 chains to the Mountain. Begun to be run 
or surveyed 22d of 2 Mo. and ended the first of May 
in the year according to English Account, 1735, by 
John Chapman. Almost a copy b}' Jno. Watson." 

From the aforesaid we obtain the following: That 
from Wrightstown to Plumstead is 9 or 10 miles, from 
the latter place to the head branch of Perkiomen 8 
miles, to Stokes' Meadow 4 miles, and to the West 
Branch or Lehigh river 17 miles, making, from 
Wrightstown to the Lehigh, 39 miles, and to the Le- 
high Gap of the Blue Mountain a total of 48-)^ miles. 
These facts prove that this route was laid through Bed- 
minster township near the ])resent village of Strawn- 
town, keeping west of the Haycock, or it would not 



THE TRIM, WALK. ' 57 

have passed over the head of Perkiomen and through 
Stokes' Meadow, which was the place lately owned 
and occupied by General Paul Applebach. By com- 
paring the line of this route with late maps it will be 
found on a pretty direct course towards the Lehigh 
Gap. 

It would appear that these preparations involved so 
much time and labor that John and Thomas Penn be- 
came uneasy, and James Steel was instructed to write. 
April 26th, to Timothy Smith as follows : " The Pro- 
prietaries are impatient to know what progress is made 
in travelling over the land that is to be settled in 
the ensuing treaty that is to be held with the In- 
dians at Pennsbury on the fifth day of the next month, 
and therefore desire thee, without delay, to send 
down an account of what has been done in that affair, 
and if anything is omitted or neglected which should 
have been pursued, the same may be yet performed 
before the intended time of meeting the Indians." 
Only three days after this he sends another letter to 
Smith and Chapman, in which he says: "The Pro- 
prietaries are very much concerned that so much time 
hath been lost before you begun the work recom- 
mended so earnestly to you at your leaving Philadel- 
phia, and it being so very short before the meeting at 
Pennsbury, the fifth of the next month, that they now 
desire that upon the return of Joseph Doane, he to- 
gether with two other persons who can travel well, 
should be immediately sent on foot on the day and 
half journey, and two others on horse-back to carry 



5o THE INDIAN WALK. 

necessary provisions for them and to assist them in 
their return home. The time is now so far spent that 
not one moment is to be lost; and as soon as the)' 
have travelled the day and half journey, the Proprie- 
taries desire that a messenger may be sent to give 
them account, without delay, how far that day and half 
travelling will reach up the country. Pray use your 
utmost diligence, and let nothing be wanting to be 
done on this important occasion, which will give great 
satisfaction to the Proprietaries, who will generously 
reward you, and those you employ, for }-our care and 
trouble." 

What do these confidential extracts reveal : " Let 
nothing be wanting to be done on this important oc- 
casion, which will give great satisfaction to the Pro- 
prietaries, who will generously reward you and those 
you employ." No foul means are asked, but anyhow, 
so it be done to the advantage of the employers. The 
exact date of this one and a half day's walk it has been 
impossible for us to fix, but it is believed from some 
of the attending circumstances, that it was made be- 
tween the first and eighth of May. Neither can we 
jjositively give the names of the three walkers, but no 
doubt they were t^dward Marshall, Joseph Doane and 
probably James Yates. In a letter from Steel to Smith, 
dated the 27th of August, 1737, relative to the final 
walk, we find an intimation that Marshall was certainly 
meant — "and for that purpose our Proprietor would 
request thee to speak to that man of the three which 
traxelled and held out the best when the\' walked o\er 



THE TRIAL WALK. 59 

the land before, to attend that service at the time men- 
tioned." We have thought in consequence of Edward 
Marshall being a. chain carrier for either Benjamin 
Eastburn, surveyor general, or Nicholas Scull, his 
deputy, or perhaps for both, may have led to his being 
appointed one of the walkers. The fact would be cer- 
tainly interesting could it be ascertained what brought 
his engagement about. 

The Penn accounts state that Timothy Smith was 
paid twice for going over this walk, the second time. 
May 31st, £10, we suppose for attending the walkers. 
We next find that he was paid for " ye 3 men who 
travelled ye Purchase ^^15," which, in our present cur- 
rency, is about $11 to each one. John Watson, Sr., 
of Buckingham, in his communication on the Walk in 
1 81 5, is correct in the following extract if applied to 
this walk, though like all other writers heretofore on 
the subject, ignorant of this experimental trip : " In 
the spring of the year 1735, a surveyor employed for 
the purpose run and measured a line beginning where 
the northwest boundary of the first purchase crossed 
the Durham road, and thence northwesterly on the 
.said road to somewhere about Haycock, and then 
turned more to the left thro' the woods to the Lehigh 
Gap in the Blue mountain, blazing the southeast side 
of the trees and saplings in the woods within sight of 
each other." 

We have both the authority of James Steel and Tim- 
othy Smith, that Thomas Penn selected the walkers, 
though, as we shall show hereafter, he professed an 



6o THE INDIAN WALK, 

entire ii^norance on the subject. Steel's letters also 
prove that before undertakin<^ the charge of the Trial 
Walk, Timothy Smith and John Chapman had both 
been to Philadelphia diWdreceivedtJicir instructions from 
one or both of the proprietaries, hozu to conduct and carry 
it out to their satisfaction. In the testimonies of several 
that were present at the final Walk of 1737, we find 
some allusions to this, but without the aforesaid in- 
formation could not have been well understood. Tim- 
othy Smith, on his affirmation, says that he was em- 
ployed "the May preceding [1735] the going the said 
W^alk to get some persons to try the course in order 
that the said Walk might go by a straight Line as near 
as it could, he accordingly did with some other Per- 
sons try the proposed course by as near a straight 
Line as they well could, but it leading them over the 
Mountains and thro' a very rocky broken way which 
as this affirmant conceived, could not answer, he there- 
fore advised that in going the said Walk they should 
keep the great Road and old Paths as much as might 
be." From a personal knowledge, there is no question 
that this route did lead through an uncommonh' rock}- 
country, particularly in the present townships of Hay- 
cock and Springfield, and in fact almost to the Lehigh, 
which was a serious impediment to opening the road 
as laid out for traxel. 

P2phraim Goodwin, of Springfield township, who 
was present at the Walk of 1737, in his testimon}-, 
says: "There had been, as he was informed, a course 
by marked trees, run and laid out previous to going 



THE TRIAL WALK. 6 1 

the said walk." John Heider, another witness of 1737, 
says, after passing through Lehigh Gap they con- 
tinued the walk a northwest course for seven or eight 
miles, "by trees which had been marked for a good 
part of the Way." Alexander Brown, of Buckingham, 
also affirms that in going from George Wilson's plan- 
tation, believed to be near the present village of Spring- 
town, to Lehigh, they sometimes went " by an old path 
and sometimes by marked trees which he understood 
had been made sometime before by the surveyors, who, 
as this affirmant heard and understood, had tryed 
the course that the said walkers were to go, and 
where there were neither roads and paths to walk in, 
had marked trees to direct them in the straight course 
to avoid hills." Joseph Knowles, a nephew of Timo- 
thy Smith, who lived with him at this time, in speak- 
ing of the Walk of 1737, says : " I went sometime be- 
fore to carry the chain, and to help to clear a road as 
directed by my uncle." Moses Marshall, the son of 
Edward, related to John Watson, Jr., in 1822, that he 
had learned from his father that a line " had been run 
and marked for them to walk by to the top of the Blue 
Mountain." In all this testimony how ingeniously 
the Trial Walk has been kept concealed. 

The Trial Walk, as stated, came off in the beginning 
of May, 1735, and what is popularly denominated the 
Indian Walk not till the 19th and 20th of September, 
1737. As will be seen, this experimental walk was 
made two years and about four months previously. 
The leading object of this was no doubt to ascertain 



62 'I'lIK INUIAX \VAIJ<. 

first how far said walk might extend up into the coun- 
tr\-, and in consequence be the better prepared to deal 
with the Indians on this matter at Pennsbury, where a 
meeting" had been appointed to be held the previous 
summer. James Steel's letters to Timothy Smith 
clearly reveal how anxious and impatient the proprie- 
taries had become to have the Walk made and reported 
to them in time for the Pennsbur\^ meeting, which took 
place the 9th of May, 1735, immediately afterwards, 
at which Lapowanzo, Nutimus, Tiscohanand other In- 
dians were present; the same who met in Philadelphia 
in August, 1737, when the deed was made and signed 
in the presence of Thomas Penn and then determined 
to be publicly walked out. 

The chief object of the Trial Walk was no doubt to 
make it certain of going far enough up into the coun- 
try, and by drawing a line at right angles from its ex- 
tremity, to take in all the desirable lands for a con- 
siderable distance above the Blue Mountains along the 
Delaware, even, if necessary, to the mouth of the Lack- 
awaxen, where, as we have stated, the Pcnns had sold 
thousands of acres to William Allen and others as 
early as 1728, without any regard to honor, justice or 
the rights of the Indians ; yea, ivitlioiit ci'en their knoivl- 
edsre or consent. 

o 

From the testimony of the witnesses present at tlie 
Walk of 1737, we get considerable information respect- 
ing this; for instance, that it was laid out by a compass 
and made as direct as possible, and where there were 
no roads or paths trees were marked to indicate the 



THE TRIAL WALK. 65 

proper direction for the walkers. According to the 
affidavit of John Heider, the trees had been marked for 
seven or eight miles beyond the Lehigh Gap. So we 
can be sure of this Walk having at least gone that 
far, but more likely some distance beyond. 

There is no question that this Walk has puzzled 
Avriters by being confounded with the one of 1737. 
For instance, John Watson, Sr., who was once the pos- 
sessor of the manuscript book of John W^atson, the 
deputy county surveyor, by the information contained 
therein, was led into the error that the real or final 
W^alk had taken place in the spring of 1735. The se- 
crecy of this affair for so long an interval was really 
wonderful, and cannot in any way redound to the 
credit of those engaged in it. If done in the first place 
through ignorance of its ultimate objects, the Walk of 
1737 must have revealed to them the nature of the busi- 
ness they had been engaged in and the consequences 
that must surely follow. John Chapman died in 1743, 
and Timothy Smith at a very advanced age in the 
spring of 1 776, and we suppose the descendants of 
their old neighbors in Upper Makefield and W^rights- 
town townships have no traditions respecting it, as ap- 
pears to be verified in the writings of John Watson, 
Sr., Joseph Smith, John Watson, Jr., Samuel Preston, 
Charles B. Trego, Dr. Charles W. Smith, Thomas 
Warner, Michael H. Jenks, Benjamin W'iggins, and 
others of that vicinity. That there was an experimental 
walk is proved beyond a doubt, and the secrecy that 
so long enveloped it bodes that it was not done for any 
good or noble purpose. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE WALKING PURCHASE. 

The Swedes arrived in the Delaware in 1638 with 
two vessels under the command of Peter Minuet. They 
brought a number of colonists with provisions, ammu- 
nition and merchandise for traffic, and first landed at 
a spot near Cape Henlopen, which was called Para- 
dise. The colonists conciliated the natives, and pur- 
chased from them the land on the west side of the 
bay from Cape Henlopen to Sankhicon, or the falls at 
Trenton. This they called New Sweden. Minuet, as 
well as those who succeeded him, sedulously cultivated 
peace with the natives. The Dutch, having wrested 
the country from the Swedes in 1655, were succeeded 
nine years after by the English, and its government 
vested in that of New York. A purchase was made 
from four Indian chiefs in 1679, in the name of Sir 
P'dmund Andros, governor of the colony, for the Duke 
of York, of a tract in the present Bucks county, ex- 
tending as far as eight or nine miles above the falls, 
and about the same distance below, without exactly 
defining the limits westward. 

The next purchase of lands above the Neshaminy 
was most probabh' made by William Markham.as the 



THE WALKINC; PURCHASE. 65 

agent of William Penn.onthe 15th of July, 1682; nearly 
four months before the arrival of the latter. It was 
made with thirteen chiefs, and appears to have been 
in part based on the purchase of 1679. ^^ ^'^^ to ex- 
tend from a white oak on the land in the tenure of 
John Wood, opposite the falls of Delaware, and to go 
thence up the river side to a corner spruce tree, marked 
with the letter P, at the foot of a mountain, and from 
the ledge or foot of said mountain west-southwest to 
a corner white oak, marked with the letter P, standing 
by the Indian path leading to an Indian town called 
Playwicky, and near the head of a creek called Tow- 
sisnick; thence westward to the Neshaminy and along 
the same to its mouth ; then up the river Delaware 
aforesaid to the white oak on John Wood's land. 
Though its upper limits are so vaguely defined, we 
believe the genuineness of this conveyance has never 
been questioned. It would extend from somewhere 
in or adjacent to Wrightstown to the foot of the hills on 
the south side of the Lehigh. 

On the 17th of September, 171 8, a deed of release 
was given by sundry Delaware Indian chiefs, Sassoonan 
and six others, for all the lands situated between the 
rivers Delaware and Susquehanna, and on the south 
from Duck creek to the mountains this side of Lehigh, 
with an acknowledgment that they had seen and heard 
divers deeds of sale read unto fhetn, under the hands 
and seals of former kings and chiefs of the Delaware 
Indians, thetr ancestors and predecessors, who were 
the owners of these lands, by which they had granted 



66 TIIK INDIAN WALK. 

the lands to William Penn, for which they were satis- 
fied and content, which, for a further consideration of 
goods delivered them, they then confirmed. This 
was recorded May 13, 1728, yet the Penns made no 
use of these deeds. 

We now come to the preliminaries attending; the 
Walking Purchase; on what it was based, and how it 
was finally agreed upon by the proprietaries and In- 
dians, with the proceedings connected therewith as set 
down at the time with the approbation of Thomas 
Penn. We know that it has been said that Penn was 
not present, and in the examination in 1756—59 he 
tried to leave this impression in his writings, with the 
evident design to clear himself by throwing whatever 
blame there might be on his agents. Turning to the 
Pennsylvania Archives (Vol. I, pp. 539 to 543), we shall 
find what is now wanted. That a council was held 
with the Delaware Indians at Philadelphia, August 24, 
1737, at which was present "The Hon'ble Tho's Penn, 
Iisqr., Prop'r," James Logan, Plsq., President, and Sam- 
uel Preston, Clement Plumstead,J. Lawrence, Richard 
Assheton, I. Hasell, J. Griffitts. Alexander Hamilton, 
and William Allen, of the Council. 

"The Proprietor informed the Gentlemen present, 
that his PLlder Brother and himself, having some time 
since had two Meetings with the Delaware Indians, 
one at Durham, and the other at Pennsbury, not only 
for the Renewal of Friendship with the People, but 
likewise to adjust some Matters relating to Lands ly- 
ing in the county of Bucks, which tho' formerly fully 



THE WALKING PURCHASE, 67 

and absolutely, released by the Indians, then inhabit- 
ing those Parts, to his Father, yet they had of late 
made some claim to them. That the Indians who met 
at Pennsbury, having represented that some of their 
Chiefs were then absent, who ought to be consulted 
on the Occasion, nothing was then concluded on; but 
that now a great number of those Indians, with sev- 
eral of their Chiefs and ancient Men, were come hither 
to proceed on the Business, and he the Proprietor had 
given the Gentlemen the trouble of meeting to hear 
what is offered ; but that the whole might be the better 
understood, several Papers containing what had passed 
at Pennsbury were read. 

"The Indians being then called in and seated, they 
were thus spoke to, Barefoot Brunston being Inter- 
preter. That on the Proprietor Thomas Penn's com- 
ing into the Country, he was very desirous of seeing 
his Brethren the Delaware Indians; that on his elder 
Brother John Penn's coming hither, he had likewise 
the same Inclination, and they, the Proprietaries, to- 
gether, had once met those Indians at Durham, and 
afterwards at Pennsbury; that they could have wished 
to have seen those old Men who are now here at those 
Meetings; that nevertheless, they are now pleased to 
see them, are always glad of such opportunities to re- 
new the old League and Friendship that had been es- 
tablished with them. 

"That all the Indians must be fully sensible as well 
of the Justice of William Penn as of his great love for 
all the Indians, since he made it a Rule, constantly to 



68 THE INDIAN WALK. 

be observed, neither to take possession himself, nor 
suffer others to possess themselves of any Lands with- 
out first purchasin<^ them from the Indians, who had 
a right to them. That when William Penn's sons saw 
the Indians at Durham, they mentioned the old friend- 
ship which their Father had established with all the 
Indians, and entered into some discourse about the 
Lands lying — [Here is left a blank space, for what 
purpose will be shown hereafter]. That at Pennsbur\' 
these Matters were again spoken of fully, but as se\- 
eral of the Indians now here were not then present, it 
might be convenient that they should hear what then 
passed. 

"And the speech of May 8th was read and inter- 
preted to them, Upon producing the Deeds referred to 
in that speech, to wit: one from Mayhkeerukkisho, &c., 
dated the 28th of August, 1680, and the other from 
Idquhon and several southern Indians, dated 1 5th 
July, 1682. The Indians now fully acknowledged and 
owned the last mentioned Deed to be true, and added 
that they had not a sufficient knowledge of it when 
they were at Pennsbury; but having since conferred 
with some of the ancient Men of the Southern Indians, 
they are convinced of the truth of it. As to the other 
Deeds, the Indians making some Hesitation, the same 
was not only read and fully interpreted to them, but 
likewise the Deposition of Joseph Wood, who was 
present at the said sale, and has signed as a Witness 
to the Deed, and likewise the Deposition of William 
Biles, who was present at this transaction, and remem- 



THE WALKING PURCHASE. 69 

bers well all that then passed ; and the whole matter 
being fully stated to the Indians, they desired till the 
afternoon to consider the same. 

" P. M. The Proprietor, President and several Gen- 
tlemen of the Council, being met, the Indians came, 
and being seated, Manawkyhickon, their speaker, de- 
livered himself thus by the Interpreter. That he is 
much rejoiced to see the Proprietor, whose P'ather was 
a good Man, and in his stead his son now stands; that 
being desirous to preserve and continue the same Love 
and Friendship that had subsisted between William 
Penn and all the Indians, he now presents the Pro- 
prietor with a belt of Wampum of four Rows; that he 
should be sorry if after this mutual Love and Friend- 
ship anything should arise that might create the least 
misunderstanding, which they will carefully endeavor 
to avoid. That the Proprietor knows well how the 
Lines mentioned in the deeds from Mayhkeerichshoc, 
&c.. are to run; but they do not fully understand 
them. 

" Hereupon, a Draught was made, and the same be- 
ing explained to the Indians, and they conferring to- 
gether, their speaker proceeded and said: That upon 
considering all that they had heard touching the said 
Deed, and now seeing the Lines in it laid down, they 
are sufficiently convinced of the truth thereof, and that 
they have no objection, but are willing to join in a full 
and absolute Confirmation of the said sale. That, 
nevertheless, as the Indians and white People have 
ever lived together, in a good understanding they, the 



70 riri-: ixdiax walk. 

Indians, would request that they may be permitted to 
remain on their present settlements and Plantations. 
tho' within that purchase, without being molested. In 
answer to which the assurances that w^ere given on 
this head at Pennsbury, were repeated and confirmed 
to them, and the Proprietor told them he would speak 
further to them to-morrow." 

DEED AUTHORIZlNf; THE WALK. 

We, Teeshakomen, alias Tisheekunk, and Nootamis, 
alias Nutimus, two of the Sachemas or Chiefs of the 
Delaware Indians, having almost three years ago, at 
Durham, begun a Treaty with our honourable Brethren 
John and Thomas Penn, and from thence another Meet- 
ing was appointed to be at Pennsbury, the next Spring 
following, to which We repaired with Lappawinzoe 
and several others of the Delaware Indians, At which 
Treaty several Deeds were produced and Showed us 
by our said Brethren, concerning Several Tracts of 
Land which our Forefathers had, more than fifty years 
ago, Bargained and sold unto our good F'ricnd and 
Brother William Penn, the Father of the said John 
and Thomas Penn, and in Particular one Deed from 
Maykeerickkisho, Sayhoppy and Taughhaughsey, the 
Chiefs or Kings of the Northern Indians on Delaware, 
who, for large Quantities of Goods delivered by the 
Agents of William Penn, to those Indian Chiefs, Did 
Bargain and Sell unto the said William Penn, All those 



THE WALKING PURCHASE. 7I 

Tract or Tracts of Lands lying and being in the Prov- 
ince of Penns}-lvania, Beginning upon a line fornierh- 
laid out from a Corner Spruce Tree, by the River Del- 
aware, about Makeerickkitton, and from thence run- 
ning along the ledge or foot of the Mountains, West 
South West to a corner White Oak marked with the 
letter P, Standing by the Indian Path that leadeth to an 
Indian Town called Playwicky, and from thence ex- 
tending Westward to Neshaminy Creek, from which 
said line the said Tract or Tracts thereby Granted doth 
extend itself back into the Woods as far as a man can 
goe in one day and a half, and bounded on the West- 
erly side with the Creek called Neshaminy, or the most 
Westerly branch thereof, so far as the said Branch doth 

extend, and from thence by line 

to the utmost extent of the said one day and a half's 
Journey, and from thence to the aforesaid River Del- 
aware, and from thence down the Several Courses of 
the said river to the first mentioned Spruce Tree. And 
all this did likewise appear to be true by William Biles 
and Joseph Wood, who upon their affirmations, did 
solemnly declare that they well remembered the Treaty 
held between the Agents of William Penn and those 
Indians. But some of our Old Men being then Ab- 
sent, We requested of our Brethren John Penn and 
Thomas Penn that we might have more time to Con- 
sult with our People concerning the same, which re- 
quest being granted us, We have, after more than two 
years since the Treaty at Pennsbury, now come to Phil- 



72 THE IXDIAX WALK, 

adelphia, together with our chief Sachems Monocky- 
hickon, and several of our Old Men, and upon a further 
Treaty held upon the Subject, We Do Acknowledge 
Ourselves and every of Us, to be fully satisfied that 
the above described Tract or Tracts of Land were truly 
Granted and Sold by the said Mayhkeerickkishsho, 
Sahoppy, and Taughhaughsey, unto the said William 
Penn and his Heirs, And for a further Confirmation 
thereof, We, the said Monockyhickon, Lappawinzoe, 
Tisheekunk, and Nutimus, Do. for ourselves and all 
other the Delaware Indians, fully, clearly, and Abso- 
lutely Remise, Release, and forever Quit claim unto 
the said John Penn, Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn, 
All our Right, Title, Interest, and pretensions what- 
ever of, in, or to the said Tract or Tracts of Land and 
every Part and Parcel thereof. So that neither We, or 
any of us, or our Children, shall or may at any time 
hereafter, have Challenge, Claim, or Demand any 
Right, Title, Interest, or pretensions whatever of, 
in, or to the said Tract or Tracts of Land, or any 
Part thereof, but of and from the same shall be ex- 
cluded, and forever Debarred. And We do hereby 
further Agree, that the extent of the said Tract or 
Tracts of Land shall be forthwith Walked, Tra\'elled, 
or gone over by proper Persons to be appointed for 
that Purpose, According to the direction of the afore- 
said Deed. In Witness whereof, We have hereunto 
set our hands and Seals at Philadelphia, the Twenty- 
fifth day of the Month called August, in the Year, Ac- 



THE WALKING PURCHASE. 73 

cording to the English Account, one thousand sev^en 
hundred and thirty-seven. 

Manawkyhickon, his x mark, 
Lappawinzoe, his x mark, 
Teeshacomin, his x mark, 
NooTAMis, his X mark. 

" It was therefore necessary," remarks Charles Thom- 
son in his AHenation of the Indians (p. 36), "in order 
that things might be carried on quietly, that the Deed 
of 1718 should be passed over in silence, and that Sas- 
soonan should not be present, nor any of those who 
signed that Deed. If it be asked what advantage could 
be gained by getting the Deed of 1686 confirmed, 
we shall easily see by an account of the Walk, and of 
the advantage taken of the Blanks in the Deeds of re- 
lease. Great stress is laid on a Deed (ib., pp. 47, 48), 
said to be granted above fifty-five years ago. This is said 
to be the Deed of 1686. Yet, tho' it is mentioned here 
as lying on the Table; nay, tho' the Indian Speaker 
says that he had seen it with his own Eyes, yet still it 
is doubted whether there really was such a Deed. It 
is certain there is none such now in being, nor re- 
corded: For, at the Treaty at Easton, 1757, when the 
Indian King demanded that the Deeds might be pro- 
duced, by which the Proprietors held the lands, and 
the Governor and his Council determined to follow 
the Course the Proprietor had chalked out, and to 
justify their claim by the Deed of 1686, and the Re- 
lease of 1737, they had no deed of 1686 to produce: 



74 'I'Hl' IM>IA\ WALK. 

but instead thereof, produced a \Vritin<^, said to be a 
copy of that Deed, not attested, nor even signed by 
any one as a true Copy. From whence some have 
been ready to conclude that the Charge brought by 
the Indian chief, at the Easton Treaty in 1756, is not 
without grounds ; where he says, that some lands were 
taken from him by Fraud and Forgery ; and afterwards, 
when called upon to explain what he means by the 
Terms, says, 'When one Man had formerly Liberty to 
purchase Lands, and he took a Deed from the Indians 
for it, and then dies ; and after his Death the Child- 
ren forge a deed like the true one, with the same In- 
dian names to it, and thereby take Lands from the In- 
dians which they never sold. — This is Fraud.' It is 
further asked, if there was such a Deed, why was it 
not recorded as well as the Release of 1737 answ^er- 
ing thereto? A Paper (ib., p. 128), said to be a Copy 
of a Deed, dated 28th of 6th Month 1686, and en- 
dorsed, 'Copy of the last Indian Purchase.' To give 
it some Credit, it has been confidently asserted, that 
the said Indorsement is of the Hand-Writing of Wil- 
liam Penn; but on its being produced at Easton, and 
examined, it appeared clearly, and was confessed by 
the Secretary and several others acquainted with Mr. 
Penn's Hand-Writing, not to be his, nor indeed is it 
like it. Its chief Mark of Credit is that it appears to 
be ancient Paper. But there is no certificate of its 
being a Copy, nor was it ever recorded. As the name 
of JoscpJi Wood is put as one of the Evidences, and 
as a Person of that name declared at Pennsbury in 



THE WALKING PURCHASE. 



/D 



1734, he was present at an Indian Treaty in 1686, 
and it is not known there was any other of that Name, 
it seems extraordinary if this be a genuine Copy, tliat 
he was not then called upon to make some Proof of it." 
No one, we believe, has ever pretended that the 
Deed of 1686 was not a forgery. Such it appears from 
our observations to have been, and different writers 
have pronounced it so. This deed, whatever worth, 
was brought to light by Thomas Penn, and in his cor- 
respondence he confessed that the original could not 
be found. It was highly important for him to go by 
this document on account of its blanks, in the filling 
of which he might turn the Walk to the highest pos- 
sible advantage. In a letter from Philadelphia to his 
brothers John and Richard in England, dated August 
20, 1737, but five days before the walking purchase 
was agreed upon, he says: "I should have acquainted 
you that just now several of the Delaware Indians who 
were at Pennsbury when John Penn was here are 
come, I hope to put an end to the dispute, the partic- 
ulars of which he is acquainted with." On the iith 
of October following he writes again to the same and 
says : " Since I wrote you last at no very great expence 
concluded with the Delaware Indians on the Foot of 
the Agreement made in 1686, which thd done to their 
satisfaction takes in as much ground as any person here 
ever expected. I would not take their conveyance as 
it would have lessened the validity of the former deed, 
but only a release of their claim with an acknowledg- 
ment of their ancestors before mentioned sale." Here 



76 THE INDIAN WALK. 

is evidence of the importance he attached to that deed, 
and on which the walk of 1737 is based, and why he 
had them so firmly bound, even to acknowledgments 
about which they could have known but little or noth- 
ing, admitting" it true after upwards of half a century 
had passed away. 

As will be observed, in the Walking Purchase of 
August 25, 1737, reference is made of the meeting held 
at Durham in the summer of 1734: " At which Treaty 
several Deeds were produced and Showed us by our 
said Brethren, concerning Several Tracts of Land 
which our Forefathers had more than fifty years ago, 
Bargained and sold." In this extract some ingenuity 
is exhibited, for it is impossible to tell what deeds are 
meant, whether that of 1680, 1682 or 1686, or even 
others. It is enough to confirm the truth of what 
Charles Thomson has said in relation to this matter, 
or else why so skillfully evaded? Again from the 
same, "not only for the Renewal of Friendship with 
those People, but likewise to adjust some Matters re- 
lating to Lands lying in the county of Bucks, which 
tho' formerly full)' and absolutely released by the In- 
dians, then inhabiting those Parts to his Father, yet 
they had of late made some claim to them. That all 
the Indians must be fully sensible as well of the Justice 
of William Penn as one of his great Love for all the 
Indians, since he made it a Rule, constantly to be ob- 
served, neither to take possession himself, nor suffer 
others to possess themselves of any lands without first 
purchasing them from the Indians, who had a right to 



THE WALKING PURCHASE. ']'] 

them." Though this, coming from Thomas Penn, is 
but self praise, yet it deserves some reply. If all be 
as here declared, much of what is stated in this work 
would be untrue though extracted from Penn's own 
papers. 

It is here said that these lands had been "fully and 
absolutely released " to Thomas Penn's father by the In- 
dians. We challenge the proof! As mentioned, the 
deed of 1 718 is the only exception between 1682 and 
1737, yet established from records, and where, in this 
interval, in the great quantities of lands sold to specu- 
lators and settlers, could any regard be exhibited for 
the rights of the Indians? William Penn, on his sec- 
ond visit here, was so remiss as not to pay any atten- 
tion to the matter though earnestly pressed by the 
Assembly. John F. Watson, in his Annals, alluding 
to John Watson's account of the Walk, says: "He 
argues, and supposes, that all the country north-west 
of Wrightstown meeting-house was taken from the 
Delawares without compensation." This coincides 
with our views, and nothing, we believe, has ever been 
established to the contrary. 

What did the King, or William Penn, or any of his 
successors, stipulate to do for the Indians? Go over 
this chapter and observe closely the transactions con- 
nected with the Walking Purchase of 1737, and that in- 
strument itself — how completely one-sided it is ! How 
binding on the Indians, for a consideration neithey 
specified nor cmtmenited, yet meant for an equivalent ! 
Here can be no prejudice exhibited towards the Penns, 



78 THE INDIAN WALK. 

for it is their own work and will speak for itself Ob- 
serve that the Indians "do hereby further agree, that 
the extent of the said tract or tracts of Lands shall be 
forthwith walked, travelled, or gone over by proper 
persons to be appointed for the purpose according to 
the direction of the aforesaid Deed." F"rom this it 
would appear that the selection of the walkers was with 
the consent of both parties, which would have been 
but justice. Timothy Smith, however, in his affirma- 
tion on the Walk of 1737, says: "James Yates, Ed- 
ward Marshall and Solomon Jennings, who were ap- 
pointed to go the said walk on the part of the said 
Proprietaries." Well might it now be asked, where 
was the authority derived to do this? Not certainly 
from the release. And, if so desired, why was it not 
placed there? These are not solitary examples, for 
the conduct of the several Proprietaries in their inter- 
course with the Indians exhibits only too many such 
over-reach ings. 

Mention is made in the minutes the day before sign- 
ing the release of the Walking Purchase, "that the 
proprietor knows well how the lines mentioned in the 
deed are to run; but they do not fully understand 
them. Hereupon a draught was made, and the same 
being explained to the Indians and now seeing the 
lines laid down, they are sufficiently convinced of the 
truth thereof, and that they have no objection, but are 
willing to join in a full and absolute confirmation of 
the sale." We find further mention of this draft in 
a letter from Thomas Penn, dated London, April 14, 



THE WALKING PURCHASE. 79 

1759, to William Logan, a member of the Council, in 
which he says: "We must insist on the terms of the 
deed and to the day and half's Walk, and as to tne 
course that was laid down in Andrew Hamilton's Draft 
of the land, by which the deed was explained and which 
is at right angles with the lower part of the Delaware." 
It was our good fortune to find this very draft among 
the papers of Thomas Penn, by which he attempted to 
explain to the Indians the proposed course of the Walk. 
Any one can readily see, on inspecting and comparing 
it with our present maps, that it was purposely gotten 
up to deceive. It is a rude affair, on which the Dela- 
ware is represented from the mouth of the Neshaminy 
to the Lehigh river. The forks of the Neshaminy are 
placed considerably more than half-way towards the 
Lehigh, when in reality they do not nearly approach 
half this distance. The " Spruce tree P " is marked on 
the Delaware a short distance above the " Great Creek 
Mackerickhitton," from the head of which a line is 
made westward to the Neshaminy, and serves as abase 
from the middle of which another line is represented 
nearly due north with the Lehigh and no further, and 
inscribed "The supposed Day and Half's journey into 
ye Woods." The deception lies in making this line ex- 
actly parallel xvith the Delaware, and not representing 
it any further to the north or north-northwest. Tho- 
mas Penn very well knew, by the Trial Walk, made 
more than two years previously, that the Lehigh was 
only half the distance walked, and that the Delaware 
above it extended towards the northeast, and the fur- 



8o THE INDIAN WALK. 

ther the Walk would reach towards the north-north- 
west the greater must be the divergence and conse- 
quently the amount of territory embraced within it. 

The reservation by the Indians, we believe, has hith- 
erto escaped all writers on this subject. We mean the 
"request that they may be permitted to remain on 
their present settlements and Plantations, tho' within 
that purchase, without being molested. In answer to 
which the assurances that were given on this head at 
Pennsbury, were repeated and confirmed to them." 
What an answer to a reasonable request! But it was 
characteristic of Thomas Penn. Little did they then 
think that before many years he would employ the 
Iroquois or Six Nations in New York, regarded by 
our early writers as the most ferocious Indians inhab- 
iting the New World, to come down on this very tract, 
and, contrar}' to ordinance, forcibly eject the Dela- 
wares, who.se only alternative was to retire to Wyom- 
ing with another outrage rankling in their hearts. 

In the release of 1737 not an Indian name is gi\'en 
that was on the deed of 171 8. We know that Sassoo- 
nan, Shickalimy and Civility, distinguished chiefs, were 
all living at this time. The two former lived for years 
afterwards, yet it is believed they were in no way con- 
sulted, or that they even knew anything about it. 
William Allen confessed, in an affidavit, that he knew 
Tedyuscung ten years previously. From other ac- 
counts we know he was at this time about thirty-two 
years of age. Why was he not also consulted? If 
these were deemed worthy of some consideration on 



THE WALKING PURCHASE. 51 

other matters before and after 1737, why not then? 
The transactions of white men with the Indians have 
reached us wholly through the hands of the former; 
therefore, under the most favorable circumstances, it 
will be still impossible to do them justice. Those who 
dealt with them, like the Penns, for instance, unfor- 
tunately possessed such extraordinary powers as to 
keep down all expressions of opinion that did not favor 
them, and which the strong arm of the Revolution 
could alone overthrow. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PREPARATIONS FOR THE WALK. 

W'e have in the progress of this work got through 
with the final adjustment of the Walking Purchase, 
and now come to the preparations attending it and 
deemed requisite for a satisfactory consummation. 

Prom the date of the release to the actual Walk 
was twenty-four days, but had it taken place on the 
1 2th of September, as had been arranged, it would have 
taken seven days less. From the shortness of the time 
it will appear that despatch was necessary, so as to 
bring it to the most successful issue for the proprie- 
taries. John Watson. Jr., about the year 1821, visited 
Moses Marshall, the son of PMward, then in his eigh- 
tieth year, and for that age possessed of remarkable 
memory and understanding, and received from him 
additional information respecting the Walk, which, as 
related, he set down. He said that " notice was given 
in public papers that the remaining day and a half's 
walk was to be made, and offering five hundred acres 
of land anywhere in the purchase and £s in money to 
the person who should attend and walk the farthest in 
the given time. By previous agreement the governor 
was to select three persons and the Indians a like 
number of their own nation. The persons employed 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE WALK. 83 

by the governor were Edward Marshall, James Yates 
and Solomon Jennings. One of the Indians was called 
Combush,but he has forgotten the names of the other 
two." We would say that by Governor here is meant 
Thomas Penn, as his brother John returned to Eng- 
land in 1735, where he remained till his death in 1746. 
There was at this time no other acting as Governor, 
though James Logan, president of the Council at this 
time, was next in rank. 

Being desirous of seeing the advertisement relating 
to the Walk, if in the newspapers of the time, and what 
reward was really promised, we went over every num- 
ber of The Pennsylvania Gazette, from December 26, 
1732-33 to 1738, and The American Weekly Mercury, 
from December 2 1 , 1732-33 to December 28, 1739, with- 
out finding it, after devoting several days' labor to this 
object. In the Mercury was an advertisement by Tim- 
othy Smith, sheriff, offering a reward for two persons 
who had broken jail in Bucks county in 1735. This 
would indicate that if he had done the advertising 
in the way of offering a reward for the best of three 
walkers it would have appeared most likely in that 
paper. These two weekly papers were then the only 
ones published in Pennsylvania. We do not doubt, 
however, public notice was given, but it may have been 
done by written or printed notices posted up at the 
most public places, along or near the beginning of the 
Walk ; as, for instance, Newtown, then the county seat 
of Bucks — as it was to the interest of the proprietaries 
to get the very best and fastest walkers that could pos- 



84 THE INDIAN WALK. 

sibly be obtained. What Moses Marshall has said on 
this subject will be regarded as of some authority. 

John Heider, a resident of the same county, in his 
examination on the Walk, says that in the month it 
came off he was induced to offer himself to be one of 
the walkers, but was refused by the proprietary officers, 
when, out of curiosity, he attended to witness its per- 
formance. Joseph Furniss, a resident of Newtown, 
and a near neighbor of James Yates, relates that his 
situation gave him an easy opportunity to ascertain 
the time of setting out on the walk; some asserting 
it was to be made by the river, others that it was to 
be gone by a straight line somewhere in Wrightstown, 
opposite a spruce tree on the river's bank said to be 
the boundary of a former purchase. We see by these 
statements that as soon as it was generally known the 
walk was to come off it created some excitement as to 
its results, but that it must ha\'e been pretty quietly 
conducted we can judge by persons being so puzzled 
to know when, where and how it was to be performed. 
Yet Timothy Smith and John Chapman had upwards 
of two years before opened the way by compass, and 
had it travelled over and the result reported to the pro- 
prietaries, it is supposed, with a view of making sure 
of securing the Minisink lands to the satisfaction of 
William Allen and other land speculators, which they 
had bought some years before, and might not other- 
wise have been so soon rid of Indian claims. 

James Steel, the receiver-general of the proprietaries, 
and acting under their authorit)', on the 27th of Au- 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE WALK. 85 

gust, 1737, two days after signing the release of the 
Walking Purchase, wrote to Timothy Smith as fol- 
lows: "The treaty which was begun at Durham, and 
afterwards held at Pennsbury now finished at Phila- 
delphia, and the time appointed for walking over the 
land is to be the 12th of September next, and for that 
purpose our Proprietor would request thee to speak 
to that man of the three which travelled and held out 
the best when they walked over the land before, to at- 
tend to that service at the time mentioned, when Solo- 
mon Jennings is expected to join and travel the da}^ 
and a half with him. Thou art also requested to ac-. 
company them, and to provide such provisions for 
those men as may be needful on the occasion desired. 
John Chapman is also to go along, and with you — and 
be sure to choose the best ground and shortest way 
that can be found. The Indians intend that two or 
three of their young men shall be present, and see the 
land fairly walked over." In consequence of the Court 
of Quarter Sessions being held at Newtown, requiring 
the attendance of the sheriff as well as some others 
concerned, the Walk was postponed to the 19th. No- 
tice of this change was at once forwarded to Solomon 
Jennings to be on hand at the proper time and place 
and be prepared accordingly. 

We see in these letters that Thomas Penn particu- 
larly requests Mr. Smith "to speak to that man of the 
three which travelled and held out the best when they 
walked over the land before, to attend to that service 
at the time mentioned." This also shows the great per- 



86 THE INDIAN WALK. 

sonal interest, if not anxiety, of the proprietary to secure 
every possible advantage of the Indians. That this 
walker was Edward Marshall there is no doubt. As 
additional evidence, he said in his examination in 1757, 
that Timothy Smith had employed him for the Walk, 
but by direction of said order. Here is further proof 
of the characteristic meanness of Thomas Penn, in not 
afterwards fully compensating him for his hard-earned 
reward, and thus by serving him too well was to cost 
him the lives of a wife and son from the long injured and 
enraged Indians. Samuel Preston, in a visit to Edward 
Marshall on his island home in 1783, states that he then 
told him that as a hunter and chain carrier he had 
been greatly accustomed from his youth to travel on 
foot, and after he had been appointed to the walk, "he 
put himself in keeping according to his best judgment 
full)' determined to win the prize of five hundred acres 
of land where Allentown now stands and the mouth of 
the Little Lehigh or lose his life in the attempt." 

How it came that Edward Marshall, Solomon Jen- 
nings and James Yates were appointed it is now difficult 
to state, but it is well known that they were all three 
stout, athletic men and distinguished hunters. Marshall 
was now about twenty-four years of age. Solomon Jen- 
nings, we know, had his home at this period in a bend 
of the Lehigh about two miles above the present town 
of Bethlehem, being one of the very few whites then 
living there. The Moravians did not settle in the 
vicinit}' till 1741. James Yates, if not a native, mu.st 
ha\'e resided for some considerable time previous in 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE WALK. Sy 

Newtown township. As Joseph Doane must have un- 
doubtedly participated in the Trial Walk, and why 
now overlooked, is hard to tell. Jennings, in our opin- 
ion, must have been appointed in his place. The four 
chiefs who signed the release for the Walking Pur- 
chase, appointed on their part three Indians whose 
names were John Combush, Neepaheilomon alias Joe 
Tuneam, and Tom, his brother-in-law, to accompany 
the walkers and see that justice was done ; as, for in- 
stance, that the Walk was fairly performed within the 
prescribed time, and to note particularly its beginning 
and termination. Whether Captain Harrison, " a noted 
Indian," was also selected by them, we are unable to 
state; but it is certain that he, with Lappawinzo, ap- 
peared on their side to take the greatest interest in the 
matter. 

Timothy Smith was particularly charged to accom- 
pany the walkers, "and to provide such provisions as 
may be needful on the occasion. John Chapman is 
also to go along and be with you, — and be sure to choose 
tJic best ground and shortest way that can be found. 
The Indians intend that two or three of their young 
men shall be present, and see the land fairly walked 
over." As instructions coming from Thomas Penn, 
they contain some interesting information, and the 
most positive proof of a desire to make the very best 
of it, and, as is always the case, without any injunctions 
whatever as regards justice or honorable proceedings. 

In order to carry out their instructions, Timothy 
Smith and John Chapman again went over the ground 



88 THE INDIAN WALK. 

in the beginning of September and ga\-e it a more care- 
ful inspection, so as to have the nearest and best pos- 
sible route for the walkers to travel over, and in so 
doing made some deviations from that used in the 
Trial Walk. The route for travel now agreed upon 
was to start from the place of beginning, near Wrights- 
town meeting house up the Durham road, to the pres- 
ent village of Stony Point, in Springfield township ; 
thence by the present villages of Bursonville and 
Springtown, striking the Lehigh river a short distance 
below Bethlehem. This undoubtedly was a much 
better selection, thus entirely avoiding the rocky sec- 
tions of Haycock, Springfield and Saucon. The route 
of the Trial Walk must have left the Durham road at 
or near the present village of Gardenville, in Plum- 
stead township, and did not meet again till a short 
distance this side the Lehigh. With this exception, 
we believe they were all the same. For this distance 
they were parallel to each other for about twenty miles, 
and nowhere beyond four and a half miles apart, which 
was most likely at the Haycock. Timothy Smith, in 
alluding to this section and the cause for making the 
change from a straight line, says : " it leading over the 
mountains and through a very rock)- broken way, con- 
ceived that it could not answer, and therefore advised 
in going the said walk to keep the great road and old 
paths as much as might be." 

It may not prove amiss to make a few additional re- 
marks on the actual condition and improvement of the 
lower portion of the country through which the Walk 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE WALK. 89 

was made. The Durham Iron Company was formed 
March 4, 1 727, and composed of some of the wealthiest 
and most influential men in the province, where they 
took up in one tract six thousand acres of land on the 
river Delaware. The iron works were commenced the 
same year, as well as other extensive improvements. In 
1 732 they petitioned to the Court of Quarter Sessions for 
Bucks county, stating that they stood greatly in need of 
a road leading from there to Bristol, and prayed that 
one might be speedily granted and opened. It was 
accordingly laid out that fall from its upper terminus, 
called Bristol road, below Pidcock's creek, in Bucking- 
ham, and extended to the Tohickon, "near where the 
Deep Run empties into it ;" being somewhat over eleven 
miles in length. This was the origin of the road and 
why so called. It was not, however, extended as a 
highway to the Durham Forge till 1746, and nine 
years afterwards was continued to Easton. So by the 
information derived from the records, we know that 
on the hne of the Walk in 1737 the public highways 
did not extend further north than the Tohickon creek, 
though there was at that time a wagon road from there to 
the iron w^orks, but which must have been very little 
travelled, from the sparseness of the population. Yet 
Marshall, in his examination, calls it "the great Dur- 
ham road," and which he says was followed "to Gal- 
lows Hill," where is now the present village of Stony 
Point, when they took "a lesser road," and so by paths 
and marked trees for the remainder of the journey, 
which extended some seven or eight miles beyond the 



90 THE INDIAN WALK. 

present Maucli Chunk, or about half-way between that 
place and where is now the village of White Haven, 
in Carbon county, terminating only about twenty miles 
this side the Susquehanna. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE INDIAN WALK. 

We now come to treat of this celebrated walk, and 
to make it the more reliable our account of it shall be 
prepared only from the information transmitted to us 
by those who were actually present either as partici- 
pants or witnesses. As aids for this purpose, we pos- 
sess the narratives of Edward Marshall, Timothy 
Smith, Alexander Brown, Nicholas Scull, Benjamin 
Eastburn, John Heider, Ephraim Goodwin, Joseph 
Knowles, Thomas Furniss and James Steel, who were 
all present and more or less interested in it. These 
accounts were nearly all taken down in 1757, twenty 
years after the occurrence, for the investigation before 
the King and government of Great Britain into the 
cause of the Indian wars, and the alleged abuses and 
misconduct of the Penns in the colony. The long in- 
terval that elapsed after the Walk till the general at- 
tention became so directed as to collect all facts pos- 
sible in regard to it on both sides, will account for 
some of the numerous contradictions which necessarily 
must occur in such cases, where the testimony is 
taken apart and by different persons. Our aim has 
been to collect and diligently compare these various 



92 THP: INDIAN WALK. 

statements, and from the mass to give what appears 
to be the most reh'able with the fullest possible amount 
of information. 

Early on Monday morning, September 19, 1737, an 
interesting group may have been seen in the Durham 
road near a large chestnut tree standing on the line 
and corner of John Chapman's land, but a few rods 
from Wrightstown meeting house, in Bucks county, 
brought thither by the sons of William Penn, late Pro- 
prietary and Governor of Pennsylvania, with the in- 
tention of having walked out a purchase made with 
the Indians the 25th of August preceding. Timothy 
Smith, sheriff of the county, had charge of the affair, 
assisted by Benjamin Eastburn, surveyor general, and 
his two deputies, Nicholas Scull and John Chapman, 
also James Steel, Jr., nephew and clerk of the receiver 
general, who was present from Philadelphia to report 
to Thomas Penn his observations concerning the mat- 
ter. Pklward Marshall, James Yates and Solomon 
Jennings were the appointed walkers. To see that 
the whole would be fairly conducted according to 
agreement, the Indians had deputed three of their 
young men to be present, whose names were John 
Combush, Neepaheilomon, more commonly called Joe 
Tuneam, who could speak English well, and Tom, his 
brother-in-law. There were also present P'noch Pear- 
son, one of the brothers of Edward Marshall, Samuel 
Hughes, and a number of others whose names have 
not reached us. Precisely at si.x o'clock, as the sun 
rose in the eastern horizon, Timothy Smith, by his 



THE INDIAN WALK. 93 

watch and that of Nicholas Scull, gave the signal to 
the walkers, who started from the chestnut tree, which 
had been fixed upon by the proprietaries as the place 
of beginning, on the day and a half's journey before 
them, followed by a somewhat motley crowd chiefly 
on horseback. Timothy Smith had already sent on 
in advance his nephew, Joseph Knowles, and others, 
with horses carrying provisions, liquors and bedding 
for the convenience and comfort of the walkers and 
his several assistants. They proceeded on the Dur- 
ham road, and before they got to Buckingham, Joseph 
Furniss came up with the company, and Alexander 
Brown joined them in Plumstead. 

It appears that near the beginning Yates got some- 
what in advance of Marshall, who, in order to over- 
take him, hurried his steps sufficiently to attract the at- 
tention of Joe Tuneam, who cried out in the hearing 
of John Heider, "that it was not fair." Nothing of 
particular interest occurred till they arrived about two 
miles beyond Tohickon creek, at or near Red Hill, 
between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon, when 
Jennings gave up and joined the rest of the company, 
with whom he continued till they arrived at the Le- 
high, when he left for his home two or three miles dis- 
tant. When the walkers arrived near Gallows Hill, 
they turned to the left from the Durham road on an 
old Indian path through the woods, partly directed by 
blazed or marked trees, till twelve o'clock, or noon, 
when they arrived in the meadows of George Wilson, 
an Indian trader near Durham, or Cook's creek, but 



94 THE INDIAN WALK. 

now occupied by his widow, where they stopped only 
fifteen minutes to dine. They then set off again, con- 
tinuing about the same general course of north-north- 
west on an old beaten Indian path. Thomas Furniss 
asserts that during the journey one of the Indians re- 
peatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the Walk, 
that it should have gone along the river, and com- 
plained of the unfitness of his shoes for travelling, stat- 
ing that he had expected that Thomas Penn would 
have made him a present of a pair. As no accommo- 
dations whatever, it appears, had been provided for the 
Indians, some of the company out of compassion let 
them ride their horses by turns. 

The walkers kept on the Indian path and marked 
trees, crossing Saucon creek and the Lehigh river, then 
better known as the West Branch of the Delaware, at 
a ford near the residence of Ebenezer Pettit, a short 
distance below where is now Bethlehem. This was a 
little after one o'clock. They followed on the same 
path leading to the north-northwest. A little after 
four o'clock, on the authority of Ephraim Goodwin, 
Marshall, dropping a little behind Yates, hastened his 
steps for a few paces to come up with him, which Com- 
bush observing called to him that he must walk fair. 
They pursued their journey by paths and marked trees 
till fifteen minutes past six o'clock in the evening, and 
extending almo.st into twilight, the quarter of an hour 
additional being for the time taken at noon. The two 
walkers had now been kept twelve hours on their feet, 
and on the authority of Thomas P^urniss, Timothy 



THE INDIAN WALK. 95 

Smith, with his watch in his hand, bid them hurry up 
for a few minutes, as the time was almost out and a 
piece of rising ground was to be ascended, which they 
did so briskly that when he announced its expiration 
Marshall clasped a sapling to support himself The 
sheriff asked him what was the matter, when he said 
he was nearly gone and could not have proceeded 
much farther. 

Where they left off for the day a white oak was 
marked about half a mile from an Indian town called 
Hockyondocquay, where Tishecunk, or Tiscohan, lived. 
They lodged here in the woods this night by ample 
fires, and heard the shoutings of the Indians at a can- 
tico in the place, to which Combush directed his steps, 
excusing the party from accompanying him. Tuneam 
and Tom had left the company several hours before 
sunset, but were all dissatisfied, saying they were badly 
cheated, and that the walkers had run and would pass 
the good land, and did not care how far or where they 
went to. Next morning brought dull and rainy wea- 
ther, and to add to their discomforts, several of the 
horses having strayed away, about two hours were 
spent in hunting them. On the authority of Edward 
Marshall, the Indians not appearing, Benjamin East- 
burn, Nicholas Scull, and another person, went earl)- 
in the morning to the Indian town where Lappawinzo 
lived, and desired him to send some other Indians to 
accompany them, when he replied that they had got 
"all the best of the land and they might go to the 
devil for the bad and that he would send no Indians 



()6 THE INDIAN WALK. 

with them." However, Combush returned with two 
other Indians, and accompanied them, according to 
Timothy Smith, for about ten miles, when, the rain in- 
creasing, he said he would proceed no farther. 

At eight o'clock they started from the place where 
they had left off in the evening, and continued on the 
same Indian path till they came to an Indian settle- 
ment beyond the Blue Mountains called Pokopogh- 
cunk,and near the Lehigh river, where a noted Indian 
called Captain Harrison lived; that from thence they 
proceeded through the woods in a northwest direction 
chiefly by marked trees and compasses carried by 
Marshall, Nicholas Scull and perhaps Benjamin East- 
burn, and crossed a large creek which appears to have 
been the Lehigh, near which Yates gave out from 
growing "lame and tired," as Timothy Smith sa}'s, 
and which was, according to John Heider. about half 
an hour before the termination of the Walk. Marshall 
walked on, accompanied by Alexander Brown, Enoch 
Pearson, and others, on horseback, till two o'clock in 
the afternoon, when the time of eighteen hours expired 
and the north side of the Pocono Mountain was reached, 
which by some is called the Second or Broad Moun- 
tain. Here five chestnut oaks were marked as the ex- 
tent of the Walk, and on which, according to Benjamin 
Eastburn, was " cut the Proprietary's name and the 
year 1 737," and also says was " about sixty miles " from 
the starting place in Wrightstown, but in reality it was 
considerably more, as will be shown in the following 
chapter. 



THE INDIAN WALK. 97 

Having reached the farthest Hmits of the Walk, it 
now remained, through the Proprietary's orders, to run 
not a direct Hne,but one at right angles from said five 
chestnut oaks to the Delaware river, making a distance 
of about sixty-six miles or more in a northeast direc- 
tion, and terminating near the mouth of the Lacka- 
waxen. This survey was immediately made under the 
charge of Benjamin Eastburn, assisted by Nicholas 
Scull, John Chapman and James Steel, Jr. The re- 
ceiver general, James Steel, in a letter to the Proprie- 
tary, dated Philadelphia, November 28, 1737, thus ex- 
presses himself on the subject : " The surveyor-general 
with my nephew afterwards continued their journey 
from the upper point or end of the day and half's walk 
to the river Delaware and which employed them four 
days." Benjamin Eastburn calls it on his map, "A 
right line from the end of the day and a half's walk 
through a mountainous barren country, abounding 
with pine trees to a Poplar tree by Delaware River 
marked with the letter P." So in accomplishing about 
the same distance it cost, by said confession, almost 
three times the amount of time. 

"On the return," relates Thomas Furniss,"we came 
through this Indian town (Hockyondocquay) or plan- 
tation, Timothy Smith and myself riding forty yards, 
more or less, before the company ; and as we approached 
with about one hundred and fifty paces of the town, 
the woods being open, we saw an Indian take a gun 
in his hand, and ad\-ancing towards us some distance, 
placed himself behind a log that laid by our way. I 



98 THE INDIAN WALK. 

think Smith was surprised, as I well remember I was 
through a consciousness that the Indians were dis- 
satisfied with the walk, a thing the whole company 
seemed to be sensible of; and upon the way in our re- 
turn home frequently expressed themselves to that 
purpose." In further confirmation of the dissatisfac- 
tion expressed by the Indians, Edward Marshall states 
in his testimony, "that about eight weeks after the 
performing the walk, happened to be in company with 
the Indian chief Lappawinzo at the Indian town Ho- 
cyondocquay, with Tishecunk and some other Indians, 
being the first time he had seen them after the said walk. 
He then heard Lappawinzo say that they were dis- 
satisfied with the walk; and that they would go down 
to Philadelphia next May with every one a buckskin, 
to repay the Proprietor what they had received from 
him and take their land again, and the said Indian 
complained that the walk was not fairly performed nor 
the courses run as should have been; and that he has 
heard Lappawinzo and other Delaware Indians fre- 
quently say that the said walk should not go the 
course agreed on between the Indians and the Pro- 
prietors, for they should have went along by the 
courses of the Delaware or the next Indian path." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE WALK. 

During the Indian Walk it should be remem- 
bered that of the three proprietaries Thomas Penn was 
alone in this country, his brother John having returned 
to England about two years previously. So the former 
must be chiefly responsible for whatever trickery or 
fraud practiced in carrying it out for his benefit. 
He was now about thirty-six years of age, certainly 
old enough to have reformed somewhat over the fol- 
lies of youth. As regards the Walk from its first con- 
ception to the end, it would appear as if he viewed it 
as a matter out of which a good thing might be made. 
He, as one of the proprietaries, alone had the right to 
treat with the Indians, and there was no power in his 
colony that could call him to account for any abuse. 
Further, the royal charter, through which he derived 
this sway, did not recognize that the Indians had any 
rights whatever in the soil, neither did either party in any 
way ever attempt to civilize, instruct or convert them 
to Christianity, though this had been done to some 
extent before by the Swedes, and later by the Mora- 
vians. But after the breaking out of a long and bloody 
Indian war, the people, in 1757, as their only recourse, 
appealed to the king and government of Great Britain 



lOO THE INDIAN WALK. 

for an investigation into the conduct of the proprieta- 
ries with the Indians based on Tedyuscung's charge, 
and were at least partially heard. Now came the cause 
for hiding away, mystifying, abstracting and prohibit- 
ing what should have been public documents. Re- 
garding those matters now from a present standpoint, 
the question arises, what good had they done to have 
even merited so long a toleration ? One thing is cer- 
tain, that little justice could be expected from such 
sources for the colonist and much less for the red man. 
It was therefore noble in Edward Marshall, though 
savage vengeance had fallen hea\'ily on his family, to 
maintain to his latest breath that the Indians had been 
grossly wronged by the government of the Penns. 

For more than a century it has been a matter of 
dispute where this celebrated Walk did actually be- 
gin. We have the authority of Benjamin Eastburn, 
who was present and acted under the orders of the 
proprietaries, that it should have commenced at the 
intersection of the Durham or Bristol road and the 
township line between Newtown and Wrightstown. 
This is corroborated by comparing Eastburn's with 
Thomas Holmes' map of original surveys, com- 
menced in 1682 and filled up for about ten years later. 
Thomas Furniss, a resident of Newtown township, 
says: " When the walkers .started I was a little be- 
hind, but was informed that they proceeded from a 
chestnut tree near the turning out of the road from 
Durham road to John Chapman's." Edward Mar- 
shall states that the)' started "from a chestnut tree in 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE WALK. lOI 

the line of John Chapman in Wrightstown." Timo- 
thy Smith asserts that the walkers started " from a 
chestnut tree near the Wrightstown meeting-house." 
John Heider testifies that the walk was begun "at a 
tree within a few rods of Wrightstown meeting-house, 
and about four miles from the river Delaware." Eph- 
raim Goodwin says it commenced at Wrightstown 
meeting-house. Benjamin Eastburn places it at the 
south corner of John Chapman's (the first settler) tract 
on the Newtown township line, about three-quarters 
of a mile from the east corner of Wrightstown town- 
ship and about tJie same distance below the vieeting- 
liouse. Should Eastburn be correct, the Towsisnick 
would prove to be the present Newtown creek. All 
the aforesaid authorities were present at the Walk. 

Joseph Smith, born in 1753, in his account of the 
Walk, written in 1826, says that when John Chapman 
ran the line " he marked a chestnut tree three-quarters 
of a mile below the meeting-house," as the place of 
beginning, which was no doubt the true starting point. 
Moses Marshall told John Watson, Jr., in 1822, that 
his father had told him that the Walk commenced "at 
the old chestnut tree below Wrightstown meeting- 
house," but this is not confirmed by his evidence. It 
is now certain, after weighing all testimony carefully, 
that the walkers, by direction of those concerned, ac- 
tually started a few rods above .said meeting-house, as 
has been corroborated by several members of the 
Chapman family, and which has been concurred in 
by Dr. Charles W. Smith in his History of Wrights- 



I02 THE INDIAN WALK. . 

town, Benjamin Wigijins, Thomas Warner, and also 
by the late Hon. Michael H. Jenks, of Newtown, who, 
in a letter to the writer, dated May, 1858, thus ex- 
presses himself: "Upon the farm now owned by Ed- 
ward Chapman once stood the celebrated chesnut tree 
from which the famous Indian Walk commenced. A 
chesnut tree is yet pointed out to the curious stand- 
ing by the side of the old Durham road, as the one 
alluded to, but this is not the fact. I have seen the 
stump of the tree some forty years ago, when there 
were many living to establish the fact." In regard to 
the upper line. Dr. Smith says that it "is south 43^ 
degrees west, and is parallel with the southern line of 
the township, and about a mile north of it." This 
fact is interesting and shows that there is a mile dif- 
ference in the two, and it seems to strengthen the evi- 
dence with what has been given, that the township 
line was the proper boundary. Hence our belief, 
from the authorities given, where the Walk should 
have honestly commenced, and the further up the ac- 
tual starting point so much the more of course were 
the Indians wronged and the walkers enabled the 
further to extend their journey, adding still more to 
the catalogue of outrages hitherto named. The con- 
duct of Timothy Smith and John Chapman, life-long 
residents of that vicinity, in the matter, well deserves 
consideration. 

The route of the W^alk as mentioned was on the 
Durham road, by the present villages of Centreville, 
Pipersville, Bucksville, Springtown, and crossing the 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE WALK. 1 03 

Lehigh river a short distance below Bethlehem, then 
through the Lehigh Water Gap, and crossing the said 
river near the present town of Mauch Chunk, where 
Yates gave out and Marshall proceeded beyond it, 
according to Eastburn's map, about four and a half 
miles, where the Walk terminated on Broad or Sec- 
ond Mountain. The general course was but very 
little north of northwest. The distance walked in 
this one and a half day's journey has been variously 
estimated by different writers. But we need not 
wonder at this, for the map of the W^alk was kept 
concealed, and whatever else related to the same that 
might be turned in any way against the interest of 
Thomas Penn, for which purpose he had in advance 
carefully instructed those who were his subordinates. 
Never had a prince more faithful followers, and the 
result proves that in their selection he was a pretty 
good judge of character, though, as we shall see, he 
failed in this matter with William Logan and Benja- 
min Shoemaker of the Council, and finally with Gov- 
ernor Denny and others, after he had got through 
with their services. How men otherwise regarded 
with respect, should have died with such secrets is an 
absolute wonder, and can only be attributed to their 
own implication. 

John Watson, the surveyor, it appears, some how 
got access to John Chapman's memoranda, made in 
the spring of 1735, for the Trial Walk, from which 
we learn that he surveyed the distance from the start- 
ing place to the Blue Mountains, making it forty- 



I04 THP: INDIAN WALK. 

eight and three-quarter miles. Edward Marshall, in 
his examination, estimated the distance walked from 
the said mountain to the end of the journey, as twenty 
miles, and John Heider on his oath testifies that Ben- 
jamin Kastburn had told him that he had measured 
the distance and found it seventeen and three-quarter 
miles, which with John Chapman's survey would 
make sixty-six and one-half miles, and Marshall's 
sixty-eight and three-quarter miles. Yet Eastburn, 
on his map, says that the distance walked by Marshall 
and Yates " was about sixty miles," as if he had never 
measured it ! This is a very ingenious statement, and 
will bear several constructions. It may be that the two 
walkers did together make sixty miles, but to say 
that they had walked the whole distance would be a 
direct falsehood, for Yates gave out several miles be- 
fore Marshall reached the point marked as the termi- 
nation. Hence another reason for concealing the ac- 
tual distance. Nicholas Scull, another assistant sur- 
veyor present, on his affirmation, said, "that he be- 
lieves the whole distance walked not to be more than 
fifty-five statute miles." About the conduct of these 
surveyors we will have more to say hereafter. They 
were thus absolutely required to hide or falsify their 
proceedings to suit their employer, or lose their situ- 
ations. This is all the information respecting the dis- 
tance we have been enabled to secure from those who 
were actually present at the Walk. 

Joseph Smith, in his account, makes the distance 
seventy-two miles; John Watson, Sr., states it to be 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE WALK. IO5 

one day's walk of sixty miles, and John Watson, Jr., 
on the authority of Moses Marshall, makes it eighty- 
six miles. On applying the scale on Eastburn's map 
to the line of the Walk, we made it on the original 
sixty-five miles, and a friend of ours makes the same 
sixty and three-quarter miles, the mode of following 
the curves probably making the difference. Samuel 
Preston caps the climax by stating that the walk was 
from sunrise to sunset and the distance estimated from 
one hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty 
miles. Our opinion is that the whole distance must 
have been between sixty-five and seventy-two miles, 
and w^e think the aforesaid sixty-six and one-half miles 
to be the best supported by evidence, and therefore 
likely to be the most correct. Taking this distance 
as the true measurement, and made in eighteen hours, 
it would give very nearly an average of three and 
three-quarter miles per hour, which is certainly rapid 
walking. To maintain this speed for a day and a half, 
or eighteen hours, would be found to be such as few 
constitutions could endure. We must remember too 
that after Marshall got twelve miles on his journey, he 
had, for the want of bridges, to wade all the streams. 
and that there were no public roads for half the dis- 
tance, the remainder being on Indian paths and by 
marked trees through the woods. Several writers, we 
are aware, have recently said that this walk was no ex- 
traordinary performance, and that persons could be 
found in these degenerate days who could equal if not 
surpass it. We think it so extraordinary that we should 



I06 THE INDIAN WALK. 

decline attempting it, and which opinion we shall hold 
till some one of these gentlemen shall show us that they 
can do as well or better under the circumstances. 

From the accounts of Thomas Penn we get some 
additional information respecting the Walk, as for in- 
stance that Timothy Smith was paid September i , i J^"/ , 
for a canoe, sixteen shillings ; October 5th, for "ye men 
who travelled ye Purchase ^10.3.9"; February 15, 
1738, balance of his expenses on the travelling pur- 
chase iJ"i 4.2.5 ; October i, 1737, "expenses of B. East- 
burn, N. Scull, and J. Steel, Jr., for running ye pur- 
chase ^17.4. 1 1" ; April I, 1740, "John Chapman, 8 
days attending ye Indian purchase ;^2.8.o." The sum 
paid Eastburn, Scull and Steel was chiefly for running 
the head line from the end of the Walk to near the 
mouth of the Eackawaxen on the Delaware, which 
cost them four days' labor. John Chapman also as- 
sisted, and, as may be seen, was engaged during the 
whole of this Walk eight days. 

After the performance of the Walk, Thomas Penn 
sent a letter from Philadelphia, dated October 1 1, 1737, 
to his brothers in England, of which the following is 
an extract: "Since I wrote you last, I have at no very 
great expense concluded with the Delaware Indians 
on the P'oot of the Agreement made in 1686, and with 
their consent the lands in the upper part of Bucks 
County have been measured by walking a day and a 
half's journey, which tho' done to their satisfaction 
takes in as much ground as any person here ever ex- 
pected. I would not take their conveyance as it would 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE WALK. ID/ 

have lessened the vahdity of the former deed, but only 
a release of their former Claim with an acknowledg- 
ment of their ancestors before mentioned sale. The 
Minutes of the Treaty are not settled in so exact a 
manner as I shall have them reduced to, but I will 
send you a copy of them with one of the deed by the 
next ship to London." Having copied this from the 
original, we would say that he certainly must have 
attached great importance to this information, from 
the fact that it occupies the first paragraph enclosed 
in a brace, and marked " Delaware Indians." He 
here makes the confession that he had "at no very 
great expense" accomplished his purposes, and that 
it takes " in as much ground as any person here ever 
expected," and that the whole was done "to the .satis- 
faction of the Indians." Who will vouch as to the 
truth of the last assertion ? He here fully exposes 
himself as to his intentions in having them so strictly 
bound in the release. 

Some time after Thomas Penn's return to England, 
he wrote from London under date of February 8, 1759, 
in which he says, " No regular return was made by 
Benjamin Eastburn, who as the surveyor general was 
the proper person to make it, but the persons who 
walked the walk might have signed it." To William 
Logan, a member of the Council, June 21, 1757, he 
remarks, " I suppose proper persons used to walk were 
got, but I hope nothing unfair was done, if there was 
it was contrary to my knowledge or desire. Those 
Indians had been very troublesome, and even pre- 



I08 THE INDIAN WALK. 

tended right to land about Jeremiah Langhornes. I 
mean Nutimus and his associates, being quite ignor- 
ant of former sales. I shall say no more on this sub- 
ject, but I can assure you, I desire to support my 
character whenever it is necessary, at the expense of 
my interest." He here admits that the Indians had 
been troublesome respecting their lands. As to his 
hoping that nothing unfair was done in the Walk, it 
u'ill do very well to say twenty years after the occur- 
rence, when it was about to be investigated by author- 
ity of the royal government. In a letter of March 1 1, 
1757, to Richard Peters, he says: "The Deed of 1737 
from the Delaware Indians, does not mention any 
boundary on the north but the line from the end of a 
Day and an Half's journey to the River Delaware. 
If their is a release of all their claim in the year 1683, 
it may be mentioned. But I think we should rely on 
the bounds of the Day and an Half's walk, which may 
be estimated to the Kittannin Hills fairly by the walk, 
and could not be said to run back from the river fur- 
ther than till it met the springs of the Schuylkill 
Creeks." Here is an admission, twenty years after 
the Walk, that he was satisfied to have it extend only 
to the Blue Mountains. Why did he not state this 
long before? And above all why not confess to the 
thousands of acres he had sold north of those moun- 
tains, between 1727 and the Walk as mentioned in a 
previous chapter? To William Logan, he writes, 
April 14, 1759, that "we must insist on the terms of 
the Deed and to the Day and a Half's Walk is not 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE WALK, IO9 

above forty-five miles, which surely is moderate walk- 
ing." Having had the map of Benjamin Eastburn in 
his possession which states the Walk to be "about 
sixty miles," this he must have known was a falshood. 
If he meant the Blue Mountains to be the northern 
limits, John Chapman, by his survey, makes them 
forty-eight and three-quarter miles distant, and East- 
burn, by his scale, forty-nine miles. Forty-five miles 
would certainly be moderate walking if they had not 
gone any further. 

Timothy Smith, in his affirmation, made before Gov- 
ernor Denny, March 15, 1757, states "that previous 
to going the said walk he was requested by the said 
James Steel by order of the said Proprietor to ac- 
quaint the Persons who were to perform the walk that 
he was desirous they should not overwalk themselves, 
that he was not anxious or coveted to have so much 
land beyond mountains, as tjiat it should oc- 
casion their hurting themselves." There is something 
suspicious in this blank. Our opinion is that Timothy 
Smith gave the name of this mountain, and that 
Thomas Penn, in his papers before the king and gov-- 
ernment, from policy, had it expunged, so as to appear 
as if it had always been so. It is our belief that 
Thomas Penn was not present at either of the Walks, 
as would appear too by the correspondence relating 
to it. The city had too many attractions for one of 
his tastes, and it was only during the summer heats 
that he would leave it for the country. 



TIO THE INDIAN WALK. 

It must follow, where documents relating to any 
subject are kept concealed and access prohibited, that 
many errors must occur, particularly in the case of 
this Walk, where after the matter had lain dormant 
for nearly twenty years it was suddenly brought into 
notice by the complaint of the Indians and, to their 
honor, the Society of Friends, in part through the 
wrongs perpetrated in this affair. These errors have 
been so numerous, that we shall only pretend to notice 
a few. John Watson, Sr., says the walk was made the 
1 2th of September, 1735, and occupied but one day. 
We find a number of writers say that the walk was 
eighty-six miles, based on Moses Marshall's state- 
ment. That Yates got blind and died three days 
afterwards from the effects of the walk, and that Jen- 
nings had so injured his health as to have lived but 
a few years. This was published by Samuel Preston. 
The fact is, Yates was living in 1750, and Jennings till 
1757. Biographical sketches of both these indixid- 
uals will be found in another cliapter. The Walk 
was not made through the Blue Mountains at either 
Smith's Gap or the Wind Gap, but at the Lehigh Gap. 
In both Day's Historical Collections and Armor's 
Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania, the Walk is 
stated to have been in September, 1733. There is no 
evidence of any walk having taken place in that year. 
The Trial Walk came off privately as stated, in the 
spring of 1735, and has been mistaken for the Walk 
of 1737. The witnesses agree that the distance was 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE WALK. I I I 

travelled from Wrightstown to Durham creek, in six 
hours, which may be fairly estimated at thirty miles, 
averaging five miles per hour, which may well be re- 
garded as most extraordinary walking. 



CHAPTER IX. 

RESULTS OF THE WALK. 

The writer has pretty freely expressed his opinion in 
the foregoing chapters regarding the conduct of the 
Penns in their intercourse with the Indians and colo- 
nists, which is regretted as anything but favorable, and 
what follows will be but little to their advantage. Truth 
and candor compel us to say this ; and he who will over- 
look or gloss errors is not fitted for the duties of an 
impartial historian. Reviling is unpleasant, overrating 
is flatter}^, but vindicating the rights of the weak and 
the ignorant is noble. The oppressor, by virtue of his 
power, for the general ^ood, needs a bringing down, 
and the degraded to be upheld and elevated ; the effect 
is a moral improvement in both. It is a law of nature 
that there shall be a regular series of v^egetable changes 
for the general well being; so in the human race that 
families shall have their successive chances to rise and 
dwindle away. The Penn family has had its day, and 
in name now no longer exists. Here the two parties 
contended, but in a century they disappeared together. 
One withdrew slowly to the west and the other to a 
more congenial home across the broad Atlantic ; while 
in the place of both the despised colonists have now 
become the citizens of a mighty republic. 



RESULTS OF THE WALK. I I 3 

To prove that we have not been prejudiced in our 
views, we now propose to give extracts showing the 
opinions of various writers as to the results of the 
Walk. "The farthest point," remarks A. B. Burrell. 
in his Reminiscences of George La Bar, "that the In- 
dians had supposed the walk to extend had been pass- 
ed three hours before. They began to murmur at the 
cheat, and when Marshall started the next morning he 
had to go alone. The country north of the Forks was 
the Indians' favorite ground. They feared it would 
now be lost; the whites wanted to reach around the 
Minisink. Taking advantage of the curve, it was de- 
clared that the line strike the river at Lackawaxen. 
Thus the Minisink was swooped into the Penn colony. 
From the point where Marshall ended his walk it took 
four days to reach the river. Had they aimed for the 
nearest point, they would have reached it at the Water 
Gap in less than a day. But then it would not have 
taken in the coveted prize. The great Indian W'alk, 
which took place just twenty-six years before 1763, 
was the first great source of contention and bloodshed 
to the settlers of the Forks region. Previous to that 
Walk the settlers of Penn's Colony had dwelt together 
in peace with the Indians. The kindness of Penn 
created a corresponding spirit in them which lasted 
through many years ; but after the father of the colony 
was gone, the white man's treachery revealed itself, 
stirred up the savage nature of the red man, and many 
an innocent mother and child paid the penalt}' with 
their lives." 



I I 4 THE INDIAN WALK. 

" Most of the Assembly," says Samuel Preston, "and 
many other judicious persons thought the whole affair 
a species of gambling worse than horse racing, and 
threatened the peace of the country. No further steps 
were taken in the matter, and Thomas Penn, seeing 
how his views and measures were treated, returned to 
England. This may be the reason why Robert Proud 
has omitted the whole transaction, as also the two 
treaties held in Easton in 1756 and 1758, and which 
were most important in the history of those times." 
"The name of William Penn," remarks Mr. Armor in 
his Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania, "has by 
some persons been unjustly coupled with this disgrace- 
ful transaction, which did not take place till many years 
after his death. The Indians felt themselves much ag- 
grieved by this unfair admeasurement of their lands ; 
it was the cause of the first dissatisfaction between 
the Indians and the people of Pennsylvania; and it is 
remarkable that the first murder committed by them 
in the province, seventy-two years after the landing of 
Penn, was on this very ground which had been taken 
from them by fraud." 

"During the administration of Governor Thomas in 
1742," says Mr. Gordon in his History of Pennsylva- 
nia, "a convention of deputies from the Six Nations 
and Delaware Indians, was held at Philadelphia, for 
the purpose of terminating some dispute which had 
arisen between the latter tribe and the proprietaries, 
relative to a cession of lands. A tract, lying in the 
forks of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers, extending 



RESULTS OF THE WALK. I I 5 

back into the woods as far as a man can go in a day 
and a half, denominated the ivalking purchase, had been 
sold by the Delawares in 1736 and confirmed by the 
same tribe by their deed, dated 25th of August, 1737. 
The Hues of this purchase having been traced by very 
expert walkers, and including more land than the In- 
dians expected, increased the dissatisfaction which had 
prevailed among them in relation to the grant of 1736. 
The Indians complained that the walkers, who out- 
stripped them, ran, and did not pursue the course of 
the river, as they anticipated. The chief Nutimus and 
others, who signed the treaty of 1737, refused to yield 
peaceable possession of these lands, and declared their 
intention to maintain themselves by force of arms. 
Under these circumstances, the proprietaries invoked 
the interposition of the Six Nations, whose authority 
over the Delawares was well known. Upon this invi- 
tation, a deputation of 230 from these powerful tribes 
visited Philadelphia where they were met by delegates 
from the Delawares, who had also been invited." 

"The northwest boundary," says John Watson, Sr., 
in his account of the Walk, "was afterwards run on 
the Pocono, and to the river at the short bend, and 
down the courses of the Delaware, by a measurement 
then made more than one-hundred miles to the spruce 
tree. This scandalous transaction was the subject of 
much conversation, and an apprehension prevailed 
that it would some time produce serious consequences. 
Surveyors were sent for six years successively to 
locate large tracts of land in the Forks, even among 



Tl6 THE INDIAN WALK. 

the Indian towns. They therefore procured letters to 
be sent to Jeremiah Langhorne and the governor, ad- 
vising to remo\e the settlers or they would take up 
the hatchet against them, and the affair was now be- 
come serious, and therefore a deep laid scheme was 
contrived and carried into execution." " It appears," 
says Charles B. Trego, in his Relation of the Walk, 
"from the written statements of persons who were 
present as well as from various traditionary accounts of 
the proceedings connected with it, that there was a 
studied intention, and a preconcerted scheme on the 
part of the proprietary agents, to extend the walk as 
far as possible in the most favorable direction ; and 
that a line was drawn from its termination by such a 
course to the river as should include within the limits 
of the survey all the desirable land in the forks of 
Delaware, and along the river above the Blue ]\Ioun- 
tain." 

"The Indians did not value," says M. S. Henr}-, in 
his History of the Lehigh Valley, "the lands south of 
the Blue Mountains very highly ; their favorite hunt- 
ing grounds at that time were in the Minisink country, 
or the valley north of that mountain, extending from 
the Wind Gap into the state of New York, near the 
Hudson River; and as a rectangular line was drawn 
from the terminating point of the walk to the Dela- 
ware River, many miles northward of the Minisinks 
were included in the purchase, as well as their favorite 
hunting-grounds along that river, a result which was 
contrary to their expectations, and which caused them 



RESULTS OF THE WALK. II7 

to be much dissatisfied, and eventually, through the 
agency of some of the enemies of the proprietaries, be- 
came exasperated ; the consequence of which was that 
they committed many murders, and finally became in- 
volved in a war with the whites from 1755 to 1758." 
"Public notice having been previously given," says 
Day in his Historical Collections, "in the papers, the 
famous Indian Walk was performed by Edward Mar- 
shall. This walk was the cause of jealousies and heart- 
burnings among the Indians, that eventually broke out 
in loud complaints of injustice, and atrocious acts of 
savage vengeance." "The unfairness practiced in the 
walk," says Thomas Furniss, who was present, "both 
in regard to the way, where, and the manner how, it 
was performed, and the dissatisfaction of the Indians 
concerning it, were common subjects of conversation 
in our neighborhood, for some considerable time after 
it was done." "As we have observed," remarks Drake 
in his Book of the Indians, " the end of these affairs was 
war. The Delawares were driven back, and they 
joined the French against the English." 

" When they arrived at the Blue Mountain," as Moses 
Marshall informed John Watson, Jr., in 1822, "they 
found a great number of Indians collected expecting 
the walk would there end, but when they found it was 
to go half a day further they were very angry, and said 
they were cheated. Penn had got all their good land, 
but that in the spring every Indian was to bring a 
buckskin and they would have their land again, and 
Penn might go to the devil with his poor land. An 



Il8 THE INDIAN WALK. 

old Indian said ' no sit down to smoke, no shoot a squir- 
rel, but lun,lun,lun all day long.' He says his father 
never received any reward for the walk, although the 
governor frequently promised to have the five hundred 
acres of land run out for him, and to which he was 
justly entitled. His father said the Indians always in- 
sisted that the walk should have been up the river, 
along the nearest path, which was also his opinion, and 
that they had been improperly dealt with, and cheated 
out of their land, but would have quietly submitted if 
the walk had not extended beyond the Blue Mountain." 
" Having reached the farthest possible point," re- 
marks Dr. Charles W. Smith in his History of Wrights- 
town, "to the north-westward, it now remained to draw 
a line from the end of the Walk to the river Delaware. 
The course of this line not being described in the Deed 
of Purchase, the agent of the Proprietaries, instead of 
running by the nearest course to the river, ran north- 
eastward across the country, so as to strike the Dela- 
ware near the mouth of the Lackawaxen — thus ex- 
tending far up the river, taking in all the Minisink terri- 
tory, and many thousand acres more than if they had 
run by the nearest course to the Delaware. It is well 
known that the Delaware Indians immediately saw 
and complained of the manner in which these things 
were done, as a fraud upon them ; nor would they re- 
linquish the land until compelled to do so by the dep- 
uties of the Six Nations, at the treaty of 1742. The 
proceedings at this walk are mentioned as one of the 
causes of the hostile feelings of the Indians, which 



RESULTS OF THE WALK. II9 

eventually led to war and bloodshed ; and the first mur- 
der committed by them in the Province was on the 
very land they believed themselves cheated out of. 
The Indians always contended that the Walk should 
be up the river by the nearest path, as was done in the 
first day and a half's walk by William Penn ; and not 
by the compass, across the country, as w'as done in 
this case. It is said that afterwards, when the surveyor 
general, and other persons to assist him, passed over 
this ground, it employed them about four days to walk 
to the extent of the purchase." 

"This walk extended, it is said (Smith's Laws of 
Penna. Vol. II, pp. 1 16-17), about thirty miles over the 
Kittatinny Mountain ; and a draught of it w^as made by 
Surveyor General Eastburn, including the best of the 
lands in the forks of Delaware and the Minisinks. 
The walkers were experts, and the Indians who could 
not keep up with them complained that they ran ; and 
moreover it would appear that their expectation was 
that the walk was to be made up the river, by its 
courses. It is not intended to enter further into the 
controversy than to exhibit the general grounds which 
are said to have estranged the Delawares from our in- 
terest, and drove them into that of the French, who 
were always ready, in those times, to increase their 
dissatisfaction with the English. Nutimus and others 
who signed the release of 1737 were not willing to 
quit the lands nor give quiet possession to the people 
who came to take up lands and settle in the forks. 
They remonstrated freely, and declared their resolu- 
tion of maintaining possession by force of arms." 



1 20 THE INDIAN WALK. 

Thomas Penn, in a letter supposed to be addressed 
to Isaac Norris, dated Braywick, July i, 1755, says: 
" I am greatly concerned to find such a spirit of dis- 
content gone forth in Pennsylvania against us and our 
government, as I think we have not given any just 
cause for it. However, I hope the people themselves 
will soon be convinced they have been most grossly 
imposed upon." Judge Langhorne, under date of May 
20, 1737, not two years after the Trial Walk, thus 
writes to John Penn, in England: "It is very plain to 
me that there are a set of people about Philadelphia 
that have no good liking to the government under 
your family, but could they have their desires hav^e it 
under the crown." In a letter to Thomas Penn, by 
the Rev. Richard Peters, dated Philadelphia, Decem- 
ber II, 1756, is this extract: "Be assured that the 
bulk, nay seven-eighths of the Society of Friends, are 
determinately your enemies. They do say, and will 
publish in England, and will assure the ministry, that 
the Delawares would have never taken up the hatchet 
against the Province, if the Proprietors had done the 
Indians justice — that Mr. Thomas Penn knew they 
complained of that scandalous Walk, and instead of 
pacifying them, set their Uncles the Six Nations 
against them, and they have been at variance e\-er 
since to the great injury of the British interest, and 
the particular damage of this Province. I hope the 
■Proprietors will not fail to consider whether it may 
not be proper to offer them a present to take off their 
particular complaint, as to the land of the Forks." 



CHAPTER X. 

WHAT BROUfiHT FORTH THE DOCUMENTS. 

Benjamin Franklin, as agent appointed by the As- 
sembly for Pennsylvania, referred his petition to the 
Committee of the Board of Trade and Plantations in 
London, Feb. 2, 1759, and which was addressed "To 
the King's Most Excellent Majesty." Among a num- 
ber of charges relating to the conduct of the proprie- 
taries, mention was made therein "That at some of 
their conferences, particularly at one holden at Easton, 
in Pennsylvania, the 13th of November, 1756, Teedy- 
uscung complained that the Indians had been unjustly 
dispossessed and defrauded of large quantities of Land, 
by your Majesty's subjects, particularly of the Lands 
which are included within the Forks of the River Del- 
aware, and also of other lands, on both sides of said 
River. That, at another conference holden at Easton 
in July, 1757, Tedyuscung having earnestly desired 
that all differences between the Indians and your Ma- 
jesty's subjects might be referred to your Majesty's 
Royal Determination, and that the same might be pub- 
lished throughout all Your Majesty's Provinces, it 
was finally agreed (among other things) by the said 
George Croghan, the said Lieutenant Governor and 
Tedyuscung, that all the Purchase Deeds and Writ- 



122 THE INDIAN WALK. 

ings, by which the said Thomas and Richard Penn, or 
their ancestors, or the grantees of their Ancestors, now 
hold any Lands, within the back Parts of the Province 
of Pennsylvania, should be examined, and copies there- 
of laid before your Majesty, for Your Royal Decision, 
of the Bounds and Limits, between the Lands hereto- 
fore bought of the Indians and those yet unpurchased." 

This accounts for the cause that led to the inquiry 
and origin of the documents relating to the Indian 
Walk and its results. This, it will be seen, was about 
twenty years after that occurrence, when it had almost 
been forgotten, and thus suddenly and unexpectedly 
revived with increased interest. Little did that crowd 
think that assembled around the chestnut tree in 
Wrightstown at sunrise on the morning of September 
19, 1737, to see the walkers start, that the proceed- 
ings of that and the following day would thus some 
time afterwards produce the excitement it did and be 
laid before the King, and in which some of the prom- 
inent characters of the age should figure. 

In behalf of Thomas and Richard Penn, their lieu- 
tenant governor, William Denny, held a meeting in 
Philadelphia, December 14, 1756, in which he "re- 
commended it to Council to make P^nquiry into the 
state of the Proprietary Indian purchases, and particu- 
larly of such as were made of any Lands comprised 
within the bounds mentioned by Tecdyuscung, in his 
speeches at P^aston, and to examine the Council Jour- 
nals, and all other Books, Papers and Evidences re- 
latinu^ to the late and former transactions with the In- 



WHAT TRODUCED THE DOCUMENTS. 1 23 

dians, and particularly the Evidences who were pres- 
ent at the one and half day's Walk, performed in pur- 
suance of the Deed of 1686, and Confirmation Deed 
in 1737, and every thing else that may give light into 
this Affair, that he might be furnished in Time with 
all necessary Informations and Materials to enable him 
to make a proper Defence for the Proprietaries and 
government against the Charges made by Teedyus- 
cung at the late Treaty. All the Members of Council 
promise to give their Assistance in and to meet as 
often as called upon to Expedite the Enquiry ; but 
the care thereof is more immediately committed to 
Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Shoemaker and Mr. Logan, and 
the secretary is ordered to furnish and lay before the 
Committee all the Proprietaries' Deeds for the Indian 
purchases, together with the Council Books, Minutes 
of Property, Indian Treaties, and every other matter 
necessary for the said Enquiry." This was about the 
first step taken by the proprietary side towards their 
defence, brought about by the Treaty held at Easton 
with the Indians, November 8th, previous. Governor 
Denny now exerted his utmost for his employers, and 
accordingly issued his summons to witnesses present 
at the Walk. Nicholas Scull's deposition was taken 
January 25, 1757, Edward Marshall's, March 2; Al- 
exander Brown's, March 5 ; Timothy Smith's, March 
15; John Heider's, March 21; and Ephraim Good- 
win's, August 3, of said year. Four of these were 
then residents of Bucks county. 

At a council held March 29, 1757, "The Governor 
enquired of Mr. Logan, what Progress was made by 



124 'I'HE INDIAN WALK. 

the Committee in their examination of the Charges 
made by the Indians at Easton, against the Proprietors, 
and was told by him that all the Indian Deeds were 
read over, the Minutes of Council extracted and the 
Witnesses examined who were present at the day and 
half's Walk, but it was difficult to get a Meeting of 
the Committee, and more of the Council might be ad- 
ded to it." Several months afterwards we find addi- 
tional information in the Minutes of the Council in 
relation to the aforesaid : "That a long time elapsing 
and nothing done, it was mentioned at the next Coun- 
cil held after the Treaty at Easton, in Jul\' and Au- 
gust, 1757, and the uneasiness the Governor was 
under at this delay, appearing very great, he then re- 
peatedly afterwards desired all the Members would 
give their attendance and go through with it, and that 
accordingly the Members frequently met at the sec- 
retary's, Mr. Shoemaker being sometimes present, and 
the Indian Deeds and other Papers relative thereto 
were read and examined, and abundance of conversa- 
tion passed ; but coming to no conclusion, and more 
time still elapsing, a report was drawn up by the other 
Members and the Council regularly summoned in 
order to have the same read ; and it was accordingly 
very carefully read in Council, examined and ap- 
proved." 

William Peters, in a letter from Philadelphia, of 
October 19, to Thomas Penn, thus expresses himself 
on the subject: "My Brother and the Committee of 
Council for incjuiring into and answering the Indian 



WHAT PRODUCED THE DOCUMENTS. 1 25 

or rather Quakers' heavy charge against you at Eas- 
ton, November 8, 1756, havhig soon after that Treaty 
desired me to take Depositions of the Witnesses about 
the one and a half day's Walk in 1737 and undertake 
the drafting of the Report, &c. I endeavored to make 
myself master of the Affair by perusing all the Indian 
Deeds, Minutes of Council and ancient papers ; and 
draw up a Draft, but it was laid aside for some time. 
But on Mr. Hamilton's proposing to go to England, 
it being thought necessary that some kind of Answer 
to that Charge should be settled to take with him, 
I prevailed on that gentlemam that no way of doing 
it could be so effectual as by Report of a Committee 
of the Council purposely appointed and to introduce 
all the Proofs in a schedule, and not by way of loose 
Ex Parte Afifidavits, and then send home a copy under 
the sanction of the great Seal and having your Appro- 
bation and being an Act of the Governor and Council, 
supporting it with such ample proofs as would fully 
answer and confute all that vile charge against you to 
obtain a Decree in Chancery to establish a good 
title on the ancient copy of the Deed of 1686. From 
that Deed being lost and the old Copy produced in 
lieu of it, I presume these wicked people found that 
base charge of Forgery and your cheating the Indians 
of their land, and expect to establish their grand scheme 
of throwing the odium of the Indian ravages on you, 
as being the consequence of the Indians' Dissatisfac- 
tion and Resentment for which your iniquitous treat- 
ment of them as those vile Enemies of yours would 



126 THE INDIAN WALK. 

have it believed and imputed, and not to the true cause, 
their refusing to give those Indians the hatchet and to 
protect and join with them against the French when 
they so warmly and repeatedly solicited us, particu- 
larly Scarroyady addressed to Governor Morris and 
the Assembly in August, 1/55 ; ^"^ when if they had 
in earnest struck in with and made a proper use of 
those Indians, — a great part of those fatal mischiefs, 
which immediately followed, might have been pre- 
vented. The Committee hav^e had my draught of the 
Report under consideration sometime and understand 
some of them think it too long; but in an affair of 
such consequence and which so much affects your 
Honour and Interest I thought I could not be too full; 
and I hope we shall prevail on them to sign it and then 
send you a copy by Mr. Hamilton." 

As just stated the report of council was duly pre- 
pared on the Indian complaints and signed by five of 
its members, two dissenting. We propose to give a 
few more extracts therefrom to show its contracted and 
illiberal views, and which is by no means truthful. It 
is just what might be expected from the circumstances 
under which it was produced. The Governor was yet 
the faithful servant of the one who gave him the posi- 
tion, though he nev^er furnished him a penn)- in the 
way of compensation, and a majority of the council was 
but a packed body controlled by the said Governor 
and Richard Peters, the secretary who acted under in- 
structions from Thomas Penn, as we find by his cor- 
respondence and how he had his every wish obeyed. 



WHAT PRODUCED THE DOCUMENTS. 1 27 

For their services Lynford Lardner and Benjamin 
Chew were both well rewarded by official positions. 
As to John Mifflin, Joseph Turner and Thomas Cad- 
wallader we are at present unable to say much. The 
report was addressed to Governor Denny, and was ap- 
proved and signed January 6, 1758. 

It commences by stating that "agreeably to the or- 
der of Council, appointing us a Committee to enquire 
into the pretended causes assigned by the Indians at 
J:he said Treaty for their striking the English, and de- 
stroying so many of our back inhabitants, and their 
complaints of injustice said to be done them by the 
Proprietaries in some of their Indian Purchases, we 
have carefully looked into and considered the same, 
and also the Proprietaries' Deeds for their several In- 
dian Purchases, from the first settlement of the Province 
down to this time, with other, the instruments, books, 
papers and evidences which could furnish us with any 
lights into the affair. That instead of (the walkers) 
beginning at Wrightstown and going back into the 
woods a north-westerly course, as they did, they should 
have gone along by the courses of the river Delaware 
or the nearest path to it; that they walked too fast, 
and should not have kept walking constantly, but have 
frequently stopped to smoke a pipe, &c., and that the 
length of the walk was unreasonable and extravagant. 
In answer to which objections, we beg leave to observe, 
that in the month next after the date of the said Con- 
firmation Deed, and in pursuance of the Agreement 
therein specified, the said One and a Half Day's walk 



128 THE INDIAN WALK. 

was regularly performed in the presence of Mr. East- 
burn, the then surveyor general, since deceased; Mr. 
Timothy Smith, the then high sheriff of Bucks county, 
in which those lands lay, who were appointed, by and 
on the part of the Proprietaries, to superintend and see 
the same fairly performed, with Mr. Scull and divers 
other persons, and of some Delaware Indians ap- 
pointed by their chiefs for that purpose; and after the 
same had been fairly performed, as set forth in the 
hereto annexed affidavits of Edward Marshall, th^ 
survivor of the walkers, Mr. Scull, the present sur- 
veyor general, the said Mr. Smith, and several others 
present thereat. 

"The said Mr. Eastburn laid down the tract, course, 
beginning and end of the said Walk in a fair Map 
which he drew of the contiguous lands, &c., in order 
to ascertain and complete the extent and description 
of the said disputed Lands, in the parts for which 
Blanks had been left, until the one and half day's 
journey or Walk should be performed, and that the 
said map was accordingly lodged and is now found 
with the proprietaries' Indian Deeds, as mentioned in 
the heretofore annexed affidavits. And then as the 
Deed requires that the head or cross line shall go 
directly from the end of the said south westerl)- side 
line and of the Walk to the River Delaware in one 
line or course, as we understand it, we cannot but 
think as Mr. Eastburn did, that it is most rational and 
equitable that the said Head or Cross line should run 
at rieht angles from the course of the walk and end 



WHAT PRODUCED THE DOCUMENTS. 1 29 

of the south westerly side Hne. And it was not to be 
such a walk, but a real Day and Half's journey on an 
affair of so much consequence as the settling the 
boundaries of so large a purchase, and considering 
that according to the natural construction of those 
words (a journey as far as a man can go in a Day and 
a Half), the walkers were not strictly to be confined 
to walking, though by the affidavits of the said persons 
present it appears they did. We think the length of 
the Walk (especially stopping at the Kittatinny Moun- 
tains, where, according to Mr. Thomas Penn's direc- 
tions, as mentioned in Mr. Smith's deposition, and 
where by the said purchase in 1749, that head line 
was fixed as aforesaid), it being only, as we are well 
informed, about forty-seven miles from Wrightstown 
to those mountains, was not at all extravagant or un- 
reasonable and ought not to have been objected to. 
We don't find that any of the Proprietary Indian Pur- 
chases were ever run out by a compass, nor can we 
apprehend that it could be of any use in laying them 
out, as they seem all to be described in the Deeds by 
natural bounds ; and therefore we are very much at a 
loss to understand what Tedyuscung means by that 
part of his charge against the Proprietaries, wherein 
he complains 'that when he (meaning, we suppose, the 
ancestors of the present Delaware Indians) had agreed 
to sell the land to the old Proprietary by the course 
of the River, the young Proprietaries came and got it 
run out by a straight line by the compass, and by that 
means took in double the quantity intended to be sold.' " 



130 THE INDIAN WALK. 

The report further states that the}- cannot under- 
stand that there were any grounds for a charge of 
forgery against the proprietaries except in offering 
the copy of the deed of 1686. They confess that no 
original could be produced ; but they offer no apology 
for its not having been recorded or that it was ren- 
dered obsolete by the purchase of 171 8. About the 
Trial Walk, of Allen's purchases, and others, nothing 
is said, or w'hy anything relating to the Walk was 
withheld from public inspection, except such as they 
permitted. They profess great ignorance about the 
use of the compass in this transaction. Its advantage 
was in the use made with it by John Chapman in lay- 
ing out the most direct route through the woods for 
the Trial Walk, and at the close of the Walk of 1737, 
so that it should run exactly southwest, that the north- 
east line at a right angle should strike the Delaware 
near the mouth of the Lackawaxen, thus taking in 
double the quantity of land it otherwise should, and 
which on a map is quite apparent. They further say 
that those witnesses are the most worthy of credit who 
mention that the Indians expressed no dissatisfaction 
about the Walk. Though Benjamin Eastburn's map 
is mentioned, of which it appears they had the use, 
nothing is said of the distance thereon ''of about sixty 
miles y 

We now approach an interesting subject, the effort 
made by Thomas Penn, through his agents, to entrap 
William Logan and Benjamin Shoemaker of the Coun- 
cil, without their knowledge, into his infamous schemes. 



WHAT PRODUCED THE DOCUMENTS. I3I 

The plot was pretty ingenious and such as we might 
expect from one who but a few years before had dis- 
played such extraordinary skill in getting possession 
of the present Franklin Square, under the design of 
pretended benevolence. In this affair it is regretted 
that all our information comes from the proprietary 
side and therefore the more favorable. In the Colo- 
nial Records (Vol. VIII., p. 245) we learn that Mr. 
Logan and Mr. Shoemaker, having perused the Report 
of Council which lay on the table, declared that it was 
a transaction utterly unknown to them, and that the 
secretary had never given them notice that such a re- 
port was drawn. That they had further been told by 
some Friends, that a report was sent by the Governor 
to the Proprietary, in which their Society was abused ; 
and that a copy of it had been produced from London ; 
that their characters suffered on this account, it being 
known that they were of the committee appointed to 
inquire into the causes of the complaint and charge of 
forgery made by Tedyuscung at the Treaty of Easton 
in November, 1756, and therefore desired that their 
ignorance of this transaction might be entered, which 
was agreed to. They were further desired to give 
their own sentiments and account of it, in order that 
they might be inserted in the minutes. 

To cover this affair, Thomas Penn sent a letter to 
William Logan, dated London, April 14, 1759, in 
which he says : " I had sent me a Report of some 
Members of Council, which I thought you must have 
seen, as you wrote me long since that you did not 



132 THE INDIAN WALK. 

agree to ever)^ part of the Report that was then draw- 
ing, and at the same time sent me )'our narrative of 
the proceedings on this purchase." Some time pre- 
vious to the above, Richard Hockley had sent a letter 
to the proprietary in which he says : "As I was in- 
strumental in renewing correspondence between you 
and Mr. Logan, I think it my duty to offer some 
thought on that subject for your consideration. Mr. 
Logan is a very honest man, has the character, and I 
believe is so, as well attached to your family, but his 
connections and attachment to Friends is so manifest 
that I am apprehensive he cannot be of that service as 
I could wish; he will draw a veil over their most glar- 
ing mistakes." 

From Thomas Penn's correspondence we are en- 
abled to furnish some additional information respect- 
ing William Logan and this affair. He writes to Rich- 
ard Peters, April 12, 1759: " I am very sorry you have 
had so much trouble about the Report of the Coun- 
cil, and am as certain as I can be of anything the)' had 
not their Copy from mine, as it has caused a difference 
betweeen the Members much to be regretted. Mr. 
Logan mentions it to me, and says its being kept se- 
cret from him, was from a subscription, that now the 
other Members of Council are satisfied was without 
foundation, so that I hope he will not think more 
about it. I am concerned in particular for your situ- 
ation, but hope Mr. Logan will not long continue his 
resentment, as he knows the reason for it. I desire 
you will inform the gentlemen, that the Friends could 



WHAT PRODUCED THE DOCUMENTS. 1 33 

not have the information from my Copy unless it was 
opened at the Post Office." Under date of Stoke, 
August 7, 1764, to Governor John Penn, he says: "As 
to Mr. Logan I expect nothing good from him, but 
wish you would show civility to him unless he gives 
you personal cause to alter your conduct in that re- 
spect, as his family have been so long concerned in 
our affairs, tho' I have had great objections to his 
Father's conduct on some occasions. I did not think, 
however, he would have abetted openly the signing the 
petition to the King." To Governor Hamilton, Octo- 
ber 9, 1 761, he wrote: "I am much concerned to hear 
Israel Pemberton still acts so bad a part and think he 
should be well watched to see whether he makes him- 
self liable to be prosecuted for scandal either against 
us or those we have employed, or else for misdemeanor 
in case he acts any part that may tend to alienate the 
Indians from the rest of his Majesty's subjects, or 
cause them to distrust those employed in the Govern- 
ment of his provinces." 

We would say that in the minutes of Council no 
papers whatsoever are to be found respecting the dis- 
sent of William Logan and Benjamin Shoemaker to 
the Report which had been endeavored to be imposed 
upon them. That there must have been such we 
think the aforesaid sufficiently reveals, but like other 
papers through the proprietary orders must have been 
either abstracted or destroyed. The whole w^as a 
gross outrage of which the most prominent actors 
were Thomas Penn, Governor Denny, Richard Peters, 



134 THE LXDIAN WALK. 

Richard Hockley and perhaps Benjamin Chew. It 
was very important in this Report for Thomas Penn 
in his defence before the King to quiet and smooth 
over these transactions, and at the same time secure 
the influence of Wilham Logan and Benjamin Shoe- 
maker and have them in opposition to his leading op- 
posers, who were also Friends, and thus have them 
divided, but in which he was completely foiled. The 
result was a letter from Thomas Penn, dated London, 
March 1 1, 1763, and addressed to Lieutenant Governor 
James Hamilton, in which he says : " Mr. Logan has 
sent me a most insolent letter, of which I shall send 
you a copy by the next Packet. You speaking to him 
I thank you for, and am of opinion that he has not 
acted a fair part in his professions to me." That 
"most insolent letter," could it be found, would no 
doubt throw much additional light on the subject and 
supply considerable which is now wanting. Such 
missives to him, however, were not infrequent. 

The true representatives of the people, we mean the 
members of Assembly, also became interested in the 
affairs that were now agitating, and in their proceed- 
ings we find that on the 1 2th of July, 1757 : "In obedi- 
ence to an order of the House we made application to 
Richard Peters, Lsq., Clerk of Council, and requested 
that he would permit us to inspect the minutes of 
Council, and furnish us with a fair transcript of such 
Minutes as related to Indian affairs ; but he informing 
us, that he could not grant our Request without con- 



WHAT PRODUCED THE DOCUMENTS. 1 35 

suiting the Governor, and receiving the said Request 
in writing, we wrote him the following letter : 

Sir, The Application of the Committee of Assembly 
to you yesterday, was made in pursuance of an Order 
of the House, which was to inspect the Minutes of 
Council, respecting Indian Purchases. They are de- 
sirous of seeing and having fair transcripts of all the 
Minutes that relate to the Purchase made by William 
Penn about the year 1700, of the Lands on Tohiccon, 
Neshaminy, the Lehigh, and the Forks of Delaware, 
or any of them. The Minutes relating to the con- 
firmatory Purchase of the same Lands in 1737 : The 
Minutes relating to the Purchase of the Lands on 
Brandywine : The Minutes relating to the Purchase 
of the Juniata and Conedaquinet Lands ; and those 
relating to the Purchase made at Albany. We are, 
sir, your humble servants. 

Joseph Fox, 
Thomas Leech, 
Joseph Galloway, 
William Masters, 
William West, 
Thomas Yorke. 

And the next day we received for answer the fol- 
lowing letter from the secretary, viz.: 

Gentlemen, I have laid before his Honor the Gov- 
ernor your Application for an inspection and fair tran- 
scripts of the Minutes of Council, respecting the sev- 
eral Indian Purchases mentioned in your letter of this 



136 THE INDIAN WALK. 

date. In answer to w hich liis Honor has ordered me 
to let you know, That he will not [)ermit you to in- 
spect the Council Books. That he is now too much 
engaged in public business, and in preparing for his 
journey to Easton, to admit of time for m\' searching 
the Council Books for the Minutes you apply for; but 
that on his return he will take care you shall be fur- 
nished with fair transcripts of them. This, he pre- 
sumes, will not be attended with an\' inconvenience 
to you as a Committee of Assembly, as the house does 
not meet by their adjournment till the 8th day of 
August next. I am, Gentlemen, your most humble 

servant. 

Richard Peters. 

" Since which," the said Committee of Assembly 
reports, " we have never heard from, or received any 
of, said Minutes, either from his honour the Governor, 
or the said clerk." 

This was on the 28th of September following and 
immediately on their adjournment. So it will be seen 
that these efforts met with as little success as the 
Friendly Association. Who on reading such high- 
handed proceedings will not rejoice at the triumph of 
the Revolution that overthrew this corruption — the 
growth of nearly a century? 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PROPRIETARIES AND THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 

The many wrongs practiced by the proprietaries in 
the government of their colony, particularly on the In- 
dians, originated in part in the Walk, and it comes 
within the scope of the present work to set this matter 
in a true light. The consequences hav^e been actually 
attributed "to the Quakers," and we have seen it so 
published both here and abroad. This statement, from 
its novelty, would to many residing in the southeastern 
section of Pennsylvania appear absurd because un- 
founded. Not so, however, with many outside of these 
limits, as, for instance, in New England and among the 
descendants of the Connecticut settlers in the more 
northern portion of the State, who, if we are to believe 
what has been lately said in some of their accounts, 
have been in times past a dangerous people to those 
who were so unfortunate as to come within their power. 
Now w^e mean to prove that the aforesaid opinion is 
incorrect, and that the Society of Friends, as a body, 
did nobly stand by the Indians, in the various wrongs 
that were inflicted on them, not by empty words and 
actions, but by the better Christian example of extra- 
ordinary acts of disinterested benevolence and friend- 
ship, which it is not likely was shown to an equal ex- 



138 THE INDIAN WALK, 

tent in any of the other English colonies. The erro- 
neous ideas to which we have alluded, had their origin 
in the misconception that Penn and Quaker were s)'n- 
onymous or identical. 

Gordon, in his History of Pennsylvania, makes the 
following remarks concerning the Society of Friends, 
and our own investigations lead us to concur in their 
truthfulness: "Their firm attachment to liberal politi- 
cal principles; their courage in resisting, by invincible 
moral force, every encroachment on the rights of con- 
science; their justice and kindness to the aborigines; 
their unostentatious but efficient charities, have all 
been noticed. If some inconsistencies between their 
principles and their practice are discovered, they prove 
onl)' that our best resolutions are not always proof 
against the storms of passion or the wiles of expedi- 
ency." At the commencement of the Indian troubles 
in 1755, the Society formed an organization called the 
Friendly Association, whose object was to redress the 
grievances of the Indians and preserve peace by more 
amicable relations between the parties. We have au- 
thorit}' to show that between the years 1756 and 1765 
^^"45 23 provincial money was expended by the Asso- 
ciation and distributed among the Indians, besides 
goods to the value of ^815, from Friends in England. 
"I assure you," wrote Richard Peters to Thomas Penn, 
August 4, 1756, "if the Quakers had not been com- 
plying, and their large present to that provided by 
the Assembly, we should ha\e been ruined, the In- 
dians would ha\'e gone awa)- dissatisfied, and matters 



PROPRIETARIES AND SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. I 39 

made infinitely worse." The subscriptions were not 
exclusively confined to the Friends, for ;^430 of the 
amount named was contributed by the Mennonists, and 
other German sects. A large portion of the money 
was applied to the purchase of clothing and sundry 
articles of value to the Indians, which were presented 
either collectively at the treaties or on special oc- 
casions to individuals acting as interpreters, messen- 
gers, &c. We have in confirmation seen a receipt 
dated, Richland Monthly Meeting, Bucks county, 4 
mo. 16, 1759, which informs us that there was "re- 
ceived of William Heacock, 12 shillings as one year's 
interest for £10, which he subscribed to ye Friendly 
Association for regaining and preserving peace with 
ye Indians," signed by Samuel Foulke as treasurer. 

Besides this charity the Association went still further, 
for which they certainly deserve great credit, as it at 
once brought them in opposition to the proprietaries, 
and for which they had to suffer gross insults and 
slanderous charges. This was to examine into the 
justice of the claims made by the Indians for alleged 
abuses practiced on them for some time. This step 
was certainly one of the boldest mentioned in our co- 
lonial history, and for its moral execution required a 
degree of courage even greater than that often exhib- 
ited on the field of battle. It was in reality a political 
attempt to uphold the rights of the people and protect 
the weak and oppressed from the power of the strong. 
The sons of William Penn were here to be taught for 
the first time, and by this sect, that they were but men, 



140 THE INDIAN WALK. 

and if scrupulously honest would in no respect fear 
investigation. 

"Sorry I am," wrote Richard Peters, December 1 1, 
1756, to Thomas Penn, "to see the vindictive spirit of 
the Quakers increase against the Proprietors, so con- 
trary to faith plighted. Those who signed the address 
to you, were some of them deceived, and others de- 
ceivers ; for, be assured that the bulk, nay seven- 
eighths of the Society, are dcteniiinaiely your enemies, 
and intend, in conjunction with Mr. Franklin and Mr. 
Norris and their dependents, to push against you with 
all the strength and fury they are able. They do say, 
and will publish in England, and will assure the min- 
istry, that the Delawares would have never taken up 
the hatchet against this Province, if the Proprietors 
had done the Indians justice, that Mr. Thomas Penn 
knew they complained of that scandalous Walk, and 
instead of pacifying them set their Uncles the Six Na- 
tions against them, and they have been at variance 
ever since, to the great injury of the British interest 
and the particular damage of this Province." 

The following is an extract of a letter dated Phila- 
delphia, 21 of I mo., 1757, prepared in behalf of the 
Society of Friends, and addressed by William Callen- 
der and Israel Pemberton to Richard Peters, secretary 
of the Council : "An apprehension of difficulties which 
may probably arise between the Proprietaries and the 
Representatives of the People, in the adjusting of the 
Quotas of the P2xpenses which will attend a final Ad- 
justment with the Indians, hath induced us to be pre- 



PROPRIETARIES AND SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, I4I 

pared to contribute thereto, in order speedily to regain 
their Friendship, and that good understanding, which 
hath unhappily been interrupted, and as we find by 
the express terms of our original Deeds the Proprie- 
taries are obliged to clear the Lands from all Titles, 
Claims or demands of the Natives, we apprehend we 
have a Right to be satisfied whether and how this has 
been done. And if we can at the next Treaty inform 
the Indians, that agreeably to their desire at the least, 
we have had full opportunity of searching into the 
Grounds of their claims, and that we find them under 
misapprehensions therein (which we have reason to 
believe is the case in some particulars), we are in 
hopes of being instrumental to engage them the more 
readily to comply with such measures as may then be 
proposed for an amicable settlement of all differences 
between them and this Government, which is what we 
sincerely desire." 

In regard to the aforesaid matter, Mr. Peters thus 
expressed himself six days later to Thomas Penn : 
"Another troublesome application has happened since 
my last. The Quaker Association have taken it into 
their heads, that they have a right to search the Min- 
utes of Council, and to inspect the Proprietary Deeds 
from the Indians, and Mr. Callender and Mr. Israel 
Pemberton were deputed to make the demand of me, 
as Provincial secretary, which they did verbally, but 
afterwards at my instance in writing, which is copied, 
together with my answer, dictated at the Council 
Board, and is one of Mr. Hamilton's draft. I hear the 



142 THE INDIAX WALK. 

Club of Friendly Associators have my answer under 
their consideration, and being refused the Examina- 
tion will probably be made a charge against the Gov- 
ernor." In his reply, Thomas Penn stated that, "The 
refusal of suffering Mr. Pemberton and Mr. Callender 
to examine the Council Books was perfectly right and 
proper, and the letter of Mr. Hamilton's well known. 
If they apply to the Assembly and the Assembly de- 
mand to examine them, your answer should be the 
same; they have no right to examine Council Books, 
and therefore should be flatly refused. Let them make 
complaint, I am prepared to answer it." 

At a Council held on the 25th, Mr. Hamilton and 
Mr. Mifflin laid before them a reply which was agreed 
to and delivered to the aforesaid by the secretary, who 
had signed it. As may be seen it is both arrogant and 
evasive: "I laid your Application in regard to the 
Inspection of the Council Books before his Honor the 
Governor, and in Answer thereto, I am commanded 
to acquaint you, that as those Books contain the most 
important Affairs of Government, many of which re- 
quire the greatest secrecy, he cannot allow the per- 
usal of them to any but those concerned in the Ad- 
ministration. And further, that he looks upon the 
transacting of Business with the Indians in this Pro- 
vince, to be a Matter so entirely pertaining to himself, 
that he cannot permit any but such as are immediately 
empowered by the King's Authority, or by his own, 
to treat with, or intermeddle in the affairs of that People. 
Nevertheless, if it be conceived that an\-thing is con- 



PROPRIETARIES AND SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 1 43 

tained in the Minutes of Council that does or may 
concern the Rights or Property of any Person whatso- 
ever, such Person, by a proper Application, and by 
particularly pointing it out, may be furnished with a 
copy of it." 

As a result soon after the Friendly Association pre- 
pared an Address to Governor Danny, in which they 
say, that "At the Governor's lodgings we first saw 
Tedyuscung, the Delaware chief, to whom we were 
before utterly strangers : on our coming in he imme- 
diately expressed his regard for and confidence in the 
Quakers" (this was in the hearing of Governor Morris, 
at Easton), and declared " He would not proceed to 
any business unless we were present ; and confirmed 
it so evidently by his subsequent conduct, at that time, 
and the ensuing treaty, that we would not without un- 
justifiable neglect of our duty, decline contributing our 
utmost endeavors to improve this disposition to the 
interest of our country, so far as we might be able to 
do it, consistent with our respective stations in life. 
From that time it was generally known, that one cause 
of the alienation of that friendship was some injustice 
they had received, or supposed to be done them, in 
the purchases, and the running out of their lands. 
They complained of divers kinds of frauds, which had 
been committed, repeatedly urged, that an impartial 
inquiry should be made into the grounds of their com- 
plaints, by searching all our records, and by the strong 
motives of regard to our temporal and eternal interest, 
urged the Governor to give liberty to all persons and 



144 'I'^^E INDIAN WALK. 

friends to search into those matters. Thus we thought 
ourselves under the strongest obligations to make all 
the inquiry in our power, into the true state of the 
Indian claims, whether or not such care had been 
taken to purchase, and pay them for the lands, as the 
Proprietaries' Agents had constantly asserted. The 
right of many of us who hold large tracts of land under 
the first settlers, the Governor's repeated declarations, 
both in public and in private, that those matters should 
be honestly and fully inquired into, and the Indians' 
injunctions that this should be done, not only by the 
persons thus complained of, or their Agents, but by 
others likewise interested therein, united in engaging 
our particular attention, and gave us a reasonable pros- 
pect of meeting with the Governor's approbation, and 
though the secretary refused to permit us to proceed 
therein, by inspecting the records in his office, we still 
had cause to think our farther application to the nec- 
essary and important concern of regaining peace, was 
not contrary to the Governor's inclination." 

Thomas Penn, in a letter to Richard Peters, dated 
London, March ii, 1757, says: "The malice of the 
Quakers in assisting the Indians to make the charge 
is very visible, and I make no doubt will by you be 
discovered. You see in the General Instructions there 
is no mention made of the Walk, but the directions to 
remove any other pretense for complaint were meant 
with a particular view, to the dissatisfaction, which you 
in your letters .say some of the Indians have expressed 
with respect to it." Again, under date of November 



PROPRIETARIES AND SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, 1 45 

II, 1758, to the same : "Israel Pemberton's hints are 
very impertinent, and will not be the means of gain- 
ing for the Indians one shilling more from me that 
they would otherwise have. The Indians I think 
should be made sensible, that it is to their interest to 
preserve a good understanding with the governments, 
for these only give temporary presents, and it may be 
many years before they receive any presents again, 
and upon the same principle they should not assist 
our own people to be troublesome to government." 
To Governor Denny he writes, April 13, 1759: "Mr. 
Pemberton's behaviour at the Treaty at Easton, was 
void of all decency, and as you will observe must tend 
to distract all business. This intrusion of those people 
into Public business is under consideration and must 
if possible be prevented." This coming from one who 
w^as not only the son of William Penn, but had actu- 
ally come here in 1732, with a Friend's certificate of 
removal, addressed to the Philadelphia Monthly Meet- 
ing, sounds oddly enough as may be seen on record, 
and shows only the more his lack of moral principle. 
Richard Hockley, the receiver general, under date 
of Philadelphia, June 30, 1757, to Thomas Penn, says: 
" Many Quakers are gone up to the Treaty, at Easton, 
and I am the more rivetted in my opinion of their mis- 
chievous intentions to do you all the injury that they 
possibly can, notwithstanding their audacious profes- 
sions to the contrary as a body politic. I wish the 
treaty may turn out to your satisfaction and the good 
of the Province, but cannot say I have such sanguine 



146 THE INDIAN WALK. 

expectations as some others as I dread the worst that 
can happen. I firmly beHeve that some of them were 
wicked enough to inveigle Tedyuscung to say what 
he did about the purchase of Lands, and endeavor to 
throw an odium on you of the blackest dye, to cover 
if possible their mal-administration and abuse of 
power." 

A committee of Council consisting of Joseph Turner, 
Lynford Lardner, Benjamin Chew, John Mifflin and 
Thomas Cadwallader, drew up a Report addressed to 
Governor \Vm. Denny, on the Indian Complaints, pur- 
porting to be chiefly prepared from the proceedings 
of the Treaty, held at Easton, November 8, 1756, but 
was not approved and signed by them until January 6, 
1758. The object of this Report of course was to 
screen the conduct of the proprietaries from the grave 
charges that had been made against them by the In- 
dians, more especially Tedyuscung. It may be seen 
in full, in the Colonial Records (Vol. VIII., p. 254), 
but from its length we can only make such extracts as 
relate to our purpose. They thus allude to the Friendly 
Association and their motives: "To Tedyuscung's 
making that base Charge of Forgery against the Pro- 
prietors to the malicious suggestions and management 
of some wicked people, enemies to the Proprietaries, 
who had come to the knowledge of that circumstance 
of the said Deed being lost, and that there was nothing 
but a copy of it now to be found, which they would 
have it believed to be a forged one, being ignorant 
that the truth and fairness of the said copy would be 



PROPRIETARIES AND SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 1 47 

SO well proved ; and perhaps it would not be unjust in 
us if we were to impute it to some of those busy for- 
ward people, who, in disregard of the express Injunc- 
tions of His Majesty's Ministers against it, and your 
Honor's repeated Notices thereof served on them, 
would nevertheless appear in such crowds at all the 
late Indian Treaties, and there shew themselves so 
busy and active in the management and support of the 
Indians in these complaints against the Proprietaries." 
This Report concludes with the following scurrilous 
attack on the Friends : " But the people who have since 
that time appeared so indefatigably industrious to en- 
gross all the management of the Indians to themselves, 
were chiefly the same who made up a great majority 
of the Assembly at the time when the House from 
their avowed religious principles, or from what other 
motives they best knew, refused or declined to concur 
with the Governor in giving up the hatchets to and 
joining with those Indians against the enemy, and as 
they cannot but be conscious that they justly deserve 
and must have incurred great blame on that account, 
if the Indians should have given that for the reason of 
their joining with the French against us, we are better 
able to account for these people being so numerous at 
at all the late Indian Treaties, and upon all occasions 
so very forward and anxious to ingratiate themselves 
with the Indians ; and for Tedyuscung's choosing to 
offer these imaginar yreasons for their quarrel with us, 
rather than the true one." 



148 THE IXDIAX WALK. 

Thomas Penn's correspondence reveals the fact that 
the Report of Council was prepared according to his 
instructions, and as soon as signed was confidentially 
transmitted to him for his defense before the King and 
the Board of Trade. The Friends having receiv^ed in- 
formation of a slanderous attack made on them, very 
probably through William Logan or Benjamin Shoe- 
maker of the council, on being requested to sign it 
were astonished at the nature of its contents, and of 
course very properly refused to do so, which afterwards 
led to a sharp controversy with Thomas Penn, as has 
been mentioned in the previous chapter. The result 
was the following correspondence : 

To William Denny, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor 
of the Province of Pennsylvania, and the three Lower 
Counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, upon Del- 
aware. 

The Address of the Meeting for Sufferings of the 
People, called Quakers, for the said Province and New 
Jersey, met at Philadelphia 14 of 12 month, 1758, Re- 
spectfully sheweth : That we have been lately informed 
that a report of a Committee of thy Council, appointed 
to inquire into the Complaints of the Indians, at the 
Treaty of P^aston, the 8 of November, 1756, hath been 
some Months past drawn up and laid before the Gov- 
ernor, and since transmitted to England, and that there 
are some Matters alleged therein, in which the Rep- 
utation and Interest of our religious Society are im- 
mediately concerned. We, therefore, request the Gov- 
ernor would be pleased to order a true cop\- thereof to 



PROPRIETARIES AND SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. I 49 

be made out and communicated to us, in order that 
we may have an opportunity of perusing the same, 
and be more perfectly acquainted with the contents 
thereof Signed in behalf and by appointment of our 
said Meeting. James Pemberton, Clk. 

At a Council held at Philadelphia, Wednesday, Jan- 
uary 10, 1759, present the Hon. Wm. Denny, Esq., 
Lieut. Governor and Lynford Lardner and John 
Mifflin, Esquires, the Address of the Meeting of 
Sufferings, presented the 14th of December last, was 
again considered, and a draught kept under advise- 
ment was amended and agreed to, in these words : 

Gentlemen : After Tedyuscung had in the Treaty at 
Easton, publicly charged the Proprietaries of this Prov- 
ince, with defrauding them of their lands ,1 desired the 
Council to examine into the State of the Indian Treat- 
ies, Purchases, and all other Transactions with them, 
for my own satisfaction ; and they were kind enough 
to do it, and to make a Report to me of their Exami- 
nations, which fully convinced me of the P'alsehood of 
the Charge. This Report I transmitted to the Pro- 
prietaries at London, together with Copies of the 
Deeds and other Papers referred to therein ; and as 
this matter principally affects those Gentlemen, who 
are to make their defence against this Charge, before 
His Majesty, you will easily perceive that I cannot, 
consistent with my Trust, order you the Copy you 
desire. I can only say that there is not the least Re- 
flection in it upon any Religious Society, and I con- 
ceive the meeting of Suffcrinefs have nothinsf to do 



150 THE INDIAN WALK, 

with it. If they think otherwise, I refer them to the 
Proprietaries. And am, Gentlemen, 

Your Most Humble Servant, 

William Denny. 
Now what must we think of the character of Gov- 
ernor Denny for veracity when he says, " I can only 
say that there is not the least reflection in it upon any 
Religious Society." Poor Denny! he little thought 
how soon aftwards he would have to refer himself to 
the proprietaries in his pecuniary distress. Their 
tender mercies he at last found out, and his reward 
was like Edward Marshall's, but fair promises. The 
Friends, however, renewed their application on the 
13th of the following month, to have a copy of the 
Council's Report, so as to defend themselves from any 
base charges which they feared might be contained 
therein, and closed by saying: "We desire the Gov- 
ernor and Council may not be displeased with this 
Application, but may give it the most charitable con- 
struction, and grant this our reasonable request." 
This we believe was about the last of the matter, but 
it conclusively proves that the Society of Friends 
took a bold stand on the side of freedom, and were 
the staunchest friends of the Indians against the con- 
duct of the proprietaries and their agents. W^e thus 
perceive that they have been erroneously charged 
with aiding and abetting the Penns at the very time 
when these respective parties were almost alone in 
opposition to each other, e\'en to the end of the pro- 
prietary rule. 



CHAPTER XII. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT PERSONS 
CONCERNED IN THE WALK. 

THOMAS PENN. 

The subject of this notice was the son of WiUiam 
Penn, by his second wife, Hannah Callowhill, who on 
his death in 171 8 left six surviving children. The 
province of Pennsylvania he bequeathed to the three 
sons of this marriage, being John, Thomas and Rich- 
ard ; the first mentioned being the eldest, received a 
double portion. John was born here on his father's 
last visit, and returned in September, 1734, but went 
back the following year, in order to oppose Lord Bal- 
timore respecting the boundary. He died unmarried 
in October, 1746, and by his will left all his part of the 
province, which consisted of two shares or half the 
whole, to Thomas, who thus became the owner of 
three-fourths, and with his youngest brother Richard 
now the sole proprietor. 

Thomas Penn arrived here August ii, 1732, and 
like his elder brother received from the colonists and 
the Assembly those marks of respect regarded as due 
their stations and as the sons of the illustrious founder. 
Aided by special commissioners, he entered upon the 
adjustment of the boundary, according to articles of 



152 THE INDIAN WALK. 

agreement made the previous loth of May. New 
points of dispute, however, arose ; the matter was 
again adjourned, and was not finally settled until 1761. 
On his arrival here he was in his thirty-second year, 
and exhibited in his conduct the occasional pranks 
and follies of youth. He was cold in his manners and 
distant in his intercourse with society, a general char- 
acteristic of the famil)', and consequently unpopular. 
A part of his time he spent in fox hunting \vith horses 
and hounds that he had specially imported from Eng- 
land, and at least a portion of the balance, with all his 
pretentions, in no very select company. 

It is useless to mention certain of his habits, which 
John F. Watson in his Annals and Sherman Day have 
had the manliness to expose, and we will therefore men- 
tion other occurrences in his life deemed essential and 
sufficiently well supported to show off the man who 
was at the head of outraging the Indians, and a cause 
for entailing a long and bloody war and countless mis- 
ery on the people of a colony over whom he ruled 
through a grant given his father by the King for the 
naval services of an ancestor. 

In the Pennsylvania Archives (Vol. I., p. 546), we 
find that Thomas Penn in company with Roger Freame, 
Robert Charles and four others from Philadelphia, only 
two months after the Walk, went over to Newtown, 
Gloucester county, N. J., and on -the affirmation of 
Joseph Mickle, a respectable member of the Society 
of Friends, did there "enter in a riotous manner 
his enclosures, did beat and maim him and forcibly 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 53 

enter his house and spoil his goods, and declared that 
he was afraid of further harm to be done by the above 
persons, therefore he prayed surety of the peace against 
them." James Hinkon, the magistrate, accordingly is- 
sued a warrant to the constable for the arrest of the 
parties. What further was done in the matter we are 
unable to say, but suppose, as in the crimes committed 
some time previously by William Penn, Jr., in Phila- 
delphia, the matter was dropped, owing to the influ- 
ence and power of the parties. Joseph Smith, who 
was born in 1753, in his account of the Walk, states 
that though the Indians had been so grossly wronged, 
they could scarcely believe the wickedness of the sons 
of Penn when represented to them by the whites. 

Though Thomas Penn had the Walks of 1735 and 
1737 carried out, we are inclined to believe that he 
was not present at either, but that they were done by 
his instructions, through deputies. His residence in 
Pennsylvania was exactly nine years, a sufficient length 
oftimetohave become tolerably familiar with the people 
and the province, and to have seen what their neces- 
sities were in the way of a good and wise gov^ernment. 
As he returned in August, 1741, it must have been 
before this date that Samuel Preston relates that Ed- 
ward Marshall had told him that shortly after the 
Walk he went to see Thomas Penn, in Bucks county, 
probably at Pennsbury, and demanded from him a 
warrant for the five hundred acres that had been prom- 
ised him as the best walker, to be located at Allentown, 
in compensation for his services, and that the onh' sat- 



154 I'HE INDIAN WALK. 

isfaction he got was an offer of £^ for the same, when, 
for this exliibition of his meanness, he became so pro- 
voked as to curse him and his " half wife" to their faces. 

In 175 I, when in his fiftieth year, he married Lady 
Juliana, fourth daughter of Thomas Fermer, first Earl 
of Pomfret. We have seen the original marriage set- 
tlement of the parties, and it appears by the numerous 
papers relating thereto, that they had quite a time till 
it was adjusted to the satisfaction of both ; employing 
for the purpose some of the ablest lawyers in England. 
What is generally regarded as an affair of the heart, 
seems to have been a matter of money with a strong 
persistence that neither should overreach the other. 
For the old Earl seems to have been very cautious on 
this matter, as if he had not been altogether ignorant 
of the person he had to deal with. While this busi- 
ness was in progress, he met with a singular accident, 
that might ha\'e turned out seriously. On account pro- 
bably of robbers that frequented the highways at this 
period, he had with him a pair of loaded pistols under 
the seat of his chaise, and when about twelve miles 
from Bath, one of them accidentally discharged, and 
wounded him so severely as to have cost him several 
months surgical treatment. 

The character of the man ma}- be \-er}' well arri\'ed 
at b}- his correspondence. To attain any particular 
end he would approach the person with the most en- 
dearing epithets and flattery. This is particularly ob- 
servable in a correspondence he opened with his 
hitherto neglected nephew, William Penn, with a \-iew 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



^.^ 



of getting the Pennsbury estate, in Bucks county, from 
him at his own price. The following is an extract 
from a reply dated Dublin, February 4, 1741 : "Dear 
Uncle Thom., I received thine of the 7th January with 
no small surprise, because I see there an affirmation 
that Pennsbury contains no more than 4000 acres of 
land, which is contrary to thy own repeated declara- 
tions and to the survey sent me, both of them calling 
it 5000 acres, but I have as good an authority as either 
to produce, which is a letter of my grandfather's, that 
expressly says it is 7000 acres ; indeed if I had no 
such letters I should think it hard, and I would think 
it is strange that the deposition of hearsay should 
swear me out of 1000 acres of my property." 

The following from another of his kindred is a more 
serious charge, and is extracted from a letter of Dr. 
Franklin (Sparks' Works of Franklin, Vol. VII., pp. 
227-28), dated London, May 9, i76i,to Edward Pen- 
nington, an eminent merchant of Philadelphia, whose 
ancestors were related to William Penn's first wife, 
who was Gulielma Maria, daughter of Sir William 
Springett : 

"I enclose you a letter from your kinsman, Mr. 
Springett Penn, with whom I have no acquaintance, 
until lately, but have the pleasure to find him a very 
sensible, discreet young man, with excellent disposi- 
tion, which makes me the more regret that the gov- 
ernment as well as property of our province should 
pass out of that line. There has, by his account, been 
something very mysterious in the conduct of his uncle, 



156 THE INDIAN WALK, 

Thomas Pcnn, towards him. He was his ouardian; 
instead of endeavoring to educate him at home under 
his eye in a manner becoming the elder branch of their 
house, he has from his infancy been endeavoring to 
get rid of him. He first proposed sending him to 
the East Indies. When that was decHned, he had 
a scheme of sending him to Russia; but the young 
gentleman's mother absolutely refusing to let him go 
out of the kingdom, unless to Pennsylvania to be ed- 
ucated in the college there, he would by no means 
hear of his going hither, but bound him an apprentice 
to a country attorney, in an obscure part of Sussex, 
which after two years' stay, finding that he was taught 
nothing valuable, nor could see any company that 
might improve him, left, and returned to his mother, 
with whom he has been ever since, much neglected 
by his uncle, except lately that he has been a little 
civil, to get him to join in a power of attorney to W. 
Peters and R. Hockley, for the sale of some Philadel- 
phia lots, of which he is told three undivided fourth 
parts belong to him. But he is not shown the right 
he has to them; nor has he any plan of their situation, 
by which he may be advised of their value; nor was 
he told, till lately, that he had any such right, which 
makes him suspect that he may have other rights that 
are concealed from him. He has refused to treat about 
it at present, as well as to sign the power of attorney, 
for the sale of the city lots; upon which his late guard- 
ian has brought an account against him, and demands 
a debt of 400^,"., which he urges him to pay, for that, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, I 57 

as he says, he very much wants the money, which does 
not seem to look well. Not only the Land office may 
be searched for warrants and surveys to the young 
gentlemen's ancestors, but also the Record office for 
deeds of gift from the first proprietor, and other sub- 
sequent grants or conveyances." 

James Parton, in his Life of Franklin, in speaking 
of Thomas and Richard Penn, remarks with consider- 
able truth: "They were haughty and reserved, they 
evaded and quibbled. Such men offend by their very 
concessions and disgust by their generosity ^ In speak- 
ing further of their meanness he says : " But in the im- 
position of the trifling sum of 550^^. a year as tax on 
their estates, all of which was to be expended in the 
defence of what the proprietaries had the ill taste to 
style, 'our province of Pennsylvania,' and 'our city of 
Philadelphia,' they resisted with a blind obstinacy that 
was only surpassed by the enlightened firmness of the 
Assembly in insisting upon it. During the first years 
of the French war, from 1754 to the end of 1758, the 
ravaged colony contributed to the king's service, in 
defending its own borders and aiding other colonies 
to strike at the common foe, the sum of 2 1 8,000^. ster- 
ling. Still the proprietaries would not be taxed." 

In confirmation that even the generosity of Thomas 
Penn was insulting, the following instances will show: 
He donated by deed dated July 21, 1759, twenty-five 
hundred acres of land in the Manor of Perkasie, in 
Bucks county, in support of the college in Philadel- 
phia, now better known as the University of Pennsyl- 



158 THE INDIAN WALK. 

vania, but with this proviso: That should the institu- 
tion fail the land was to revert to himself and heirs, 
and when the income from it should amount to 200;^. 
per annum, they should educate, maintain, and clothe 
two persons of the nomination of the grantor or his 
heirs. In a previous letter sent to Richard Hockley, 
dated October 9, 1756, he says: "I have also agreed 
to give on my private account 50^^ a year towards the 
salary of the Provost of the College, provided he is 
approved by me, to commence from Christmas, 1755." 
We presume, from the conditions imposed, the offer 
was not accepted. 

In the address of Dr. George Wood on the Cen- 
tennial Celebration of the founding of the Pennsylva- 
nia Hospital, deliv^ered June 10, 185 1, we get some 
additional information. After a charter had been 
granted and a sum of money voted by the Assembly 
and considerable subscribed for the purpose of erect- 
ing a building, application was made to Thomas and 
Richard Penn for a plot of ground on which to build, 
"so that all concerned in the Province might partici- 
pate in the honor, merit and pleasure of so good a 
work." A suitable place was designated on the unap- 
propriated portion of the square on the south side of 
Mulberry between Ninth and Tenth streets, being a 
part of the city in which the value of land had not in- 
creased for several years, and which was not likely to 
be occupied. But, instead, they transmitted to their 
Lieutenant Governor, James Hamilton, an instrument 
from themselves for a small lot of ground, lying on 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 59 

the north side of Sassafras street, between Sixth and 
Seventh streets, being a portion of the grounds now 
known as FrankHn Square; under the condition, how- 
ever, that should there not be a constant succession of 
contributors to meet and choose managers, the tract 
of land thus conveyed should revert to them or their 
heirs. Now as this with the adjoining grounds had a 
long time before been granted by the founder, their 
father, to the city for public uses, it could not be ac- 
cepted under the instrument conveying it "without an 
inplied acknowledgment on their part of the Proprie- 
taries' right to the remainder of the grounds." The 
managers therefore unanimously felt themselves con- 
strained to decline the grant of the Proprietaries. De- 
sparing now of any donation from the Penns, they 
purchased the square on which it now stands, in De- 
cember, 1754. for 500^, to which however ten years 
afterwards they did grant an adjoining lot fronting on 
Spruce street, of sixty feet in depth and an annuity of 
40^. They thus offered to convey ground for which 
they had not been asked and never even owned ; hav- 
ing been granted to the city about seventy years pre- 
vious. 

There are other similar occurrences in the life of 
Thomas Penn that will be found elsewhere in this 
work, and to which from their connection they more 
appropriately belong. Between him and Dr. Franklin 
an old antipathy existed, perhaps originating from a bill 
many years due for printing and stationery, which the 
latter, losing all patience from his quibbling, compelled 



l6o THE INDIAN WALK. 

him to pay. In a letter to Richard Peters, dated London, 
July 5, 1758, he says: "How Mr. Franklin looked 
I cannot tell, but my brother says like a malicious 

V as he always does; how from this time I will 

not have any conversation with him on any pretense." 
Again, to the same, under date of February 10, 1759: 
" He has just now presented a Petition to the King on 
the Delaware Indian Complaints, a copy of which I 
send you." This related to the Walk, and the con- 
duct of the Penns in their intercourse with the Indians. 
June 13, 1764, he writes again respecting Franklin to 
Lieut. Gov. James Hamilton, in which he says, "we 
are not in fear of your mighty Goliath, whose schemes 
of government are not approved of here, and who may 
lose the government of a post office by grasping at 
that of a province." Could he have lived twenty years 
later he would have found himself in a rather humili- 
ated condition; his province forever lost him, and his 
King and government compelled to acknowledge it, 
and his antagonist prominent in bringing it about and 
serving twice as its chief executive. 

After six years of severe suffering, Thomas Penn 
died March 21, 1775, when he had completed his sev- 
enty-fourth year, about the age of his father, and was 
his last surviving child. He had a large family, but 
most of his children died young. A son John was the 
author of two volumes of poems, but of no striking 
original merit. Another son, Granville, in 1834, pre- 
.sented the two Indian portraits to the Historical So- 
ciety. His widow survi\ed until 1801. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. l6l 

For the loss of the province, considering the con- 
duct of the proprietaries, the Legislature of Pennsyl- 
vania certainly exhibited liberality. The act was passed 
November 27, 1779, that abolished their hereditary 
powers and other extraordinary privileges. It states 
"that the sum of 130,000 pounds sterling (^577,778) 
be paid to the devisees and legatees of Thomas Penn 
and Richard Penn, late proprietaries of Pennsylvania 
respectively, and to the widow and relict of the said 
Thomas Penn, in such proportions as shall hereafter 
by the legislature be deemed equitable and just upon 
a full investigation of their respective claims. Provided 
that no part of the said sum be paid within less than 
one year after the termination of the present war with 
Great Britain ; and that no more than 20,000 pounds 
sterling, nor less than 15,000 pounds sterling, shall be 
paid in any one year, until the whole sum be fully 
paid and discharged." It appears that they gladly ac- 
cepted it, and in 1791 the State had paid the whole off 
with interest. For their losses the British Govern-' 
ment allowed the family an annuity of ;^4000 to con- 
tinue forever. Thus did Pennsylvania prove a fortu- 
nate venture to the founder's descendants. 

If it were asked in the rule of almost a century, 
what beneficial works of enterprise the Penns had per- 
formed for the good of the people and Province, we 
think it would be rather difficult to answer, while, on 
the other hand, the abuse of power in the government, 
and their neglect and mismanagement of business, 
caused incalculable injury. In that long period, they 



102 THE INDIAN WALK. 

constructed no useful public works, founded nor en- 
dowed no humane or benevolent institutions, organ- 
ized no schools or colleges; made even no attempts to 
civilize, instruct or convert the native Indians, or amel- 
iorate the condition of the negroes. However, with 
all these drawbacks, the Province flourished, and was 
bringing in immense revenues to those who would 
not be taxed, who cared not even to reside here nor 
do anything for it, and yet whose vast possessions 
were augmenting in wealth through the labors of the 
hardy and enterprising settlers. 

In concluding this sketch we shall leave the Rev. 
Israel Acrelius (Hist. New Sweden, ed. 1874, p. 131) 
furnish a parting salute: "Thomas Penn came in 
1733 to visit his country, and examine into its re- 
sources. But as he and his brother Richard had en- 
tirely fallen away from the Quaker connection, and he 
inquired more about the government than the uphold- 
ing of Quakerism, he was met by his father's old 
friends with uncommon disesteem, and after six or 
seven years' intercourse with them, instead of any 
other token of honor, had a gallows erected for him 
on the side of the road alonsj which he travelled." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. l6 



WILLIAM ALLEN. 

In his day, William Allen was one of the most in- 
fluential men in Philadelphia, if not in the Province. 
He was the son of William Allen, an eminent mer- 
chant in the city, of whom Robert Proud speaks as 
"a considerable promoter of trade and a man of good 
character." He died in the summer of 1725, and left 
to his son a considerable fortune. Mr. Allen, with 
James Logan and ten others, in the spring of 1727, 
took up what was called the Durham tract on the river 
Delaware in Bucks county, and which they said con- 
tained by estimation six thousand acres, which on a 
division in 1773 was found to contain eight thousand 
five hundred and eleven acres. His operations were 
now extensive, and being a man of wealth, and the 
Penn family at this period, through their extravagan- 
cies, needy, a remarkable spirit of accommodation was 
extended to him, such as we believe was given to no 
other individual. He was a prudent business man and 
at once made use of his power in selecting and taking 
up only such lands as suited him. As for Indian 
rights or claims, he had as little regard for them as 
those he dealt with, providing he could have their 
strong arms to shield and protect him. Thus in 1727 
and 1728, he purchased thousands of acres of the best 
land above the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains — one 
tract of five thousand acres in 1735 at the present Naz- 
areth, and three thousand acres in 1736 in six parcels 



164 THE INDIAN WALK. 

along the Lehigh river, in and around the present Al- 
lentown, which in consequence was called after him. 
These tracts, it must be remembered, were all pur- 
chased some time before the Walk and without any 
right or even the knowledge of the Indians. He had 
the sagacity in selling these lands to purchasers to 
omit the date when he received said grants. This, in 
our observations among records outside of his trans- 
actions, was an unusual proceeding, and there is no 
question but what there was an understanding on this 
subject with Thomas Penn. It is remarkable too with 
what success the secret was kept, especially of the 
lands around Dingman's Ferry, twenty -four miles 
above the Blue Mountains, regularly surveyed and 
purchased by him upwards of nine years before the 
Walk. The running of the line from the termination 
of the one and a half day's journey to near the mouth 
of the Lackawaxen on the Delaware, was done no 
doubt chiefly to accommodate him so as to be rid the 
sooner of Indian claims. In his visits to Durham 
Iron Works on and after 1727, he tells us, he there 
became acquainted with Tishcohan, Nutimus and 
Tedyuscung. 

Mr. Allen was mayor of Philadelphia in 1735, and 
recorder from 1741 to 1750. He was commissioned 
chief justice of the Supreme Court, September 20, 
1750, and continued in the office till the spring of 
1774, when owing to the troubles of the times he re- 
signed. It will thus be seen that he had much ex- 
perience in public affairs. He was married to Mar- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 65 

garet, the daughter of Andrew Hamilton, the celebrated 
lawyer, and the sister of Lieut. Gov. James Hamilton. 
He had sons, Andrew, William, John and James, who 
at first were vacillating, but in the end proved royalists. 
It is said, in 1761, he was only one of three persons in 
Philadelphia who kept a coach drawn by four horses 
and driven by an imported coachman. Much of his 
wealth as well as his positions he owed to the Penns, 
and with the troubles of the Revolution approaching, 
as a royalist, he was placed in no enviable situation. 
Accustomed to regard the King as the source of 
power, the proprietaries as only secondary, and the 
popular cause increasing, he concluded to leave his 
native land for an asylum in Great Britain, where he 
resided until his death in September, 1780. Unlike 
the Penns, Mr. Allen was a man of enterprise and 
public spirit. The college in Philadelphia was chiefly 
established through his and Dr. Franklin's exertions. 
The latter, while in command of a regiment, named 
Fort Allen, on the Lehigh, after him in 1756. Mr. 
Allen, from his strong prejudices and his devoted at- 
tachment to the interests of the Penns, was not quali- 
fied to sit as an impartial judge in the Supreme Court. 
An examination of his papers also indicates that he 
had not the ability requisite for that position. 

Mr. Allerj's correspondence reveals that he was im- 
portunate for office, as confirmed by the following ex- 
tracts : Gov. John Penn, in a letter to his uncle Tho- 
mas, dated Philadelphia, March 17, 1764, thus ex- 
presses himself: "Before I finish I must observe that 



1 66 THE INDIAN WALK. 

many good people in this city have been disgusted at 
the particular regard always paid that gentleman's re- 
commendations to every office that fell vacant, in pre- 
judice to any pretensions they might have from their 
own merit and superior qualifications, and look upon 
themselves as neglected and unnoticed only because 
they happen to be obnoxious to him. I take him to 
be a very good man, but too easily biased at the ex- 
pense of his judgment, and very open to flattery, fond 
of popularity, but mistaking the ends of obtaining it." 
In reply to his nephew's letter respecting his contem- 
plated marriage, Thomas Penn does not appear to give 
his hearty approval. Under date of London, April 
12, 1765, he says : " In this case you must on consid- 
ering it closely be of opinion that the party who think 
Mr. A. and his friends direct every thing, will suppose 
with great reason that his influence will be greatly in- 
creased, and on appointment of any one of his family 
to an office they will make great clamor and sa}' all 
offices are to be swallowed up by them ; his family is 
numerous, this must cause other connections, and it 
will be a very difficult part for a goxernor to refuse 
applications from persons he must necessarily be un- 
der great influence to oblige. Besides considering 
how ready the people are to suppose we have an un- 
due influence over our judges, and even r^ow press us 
to an appointment during good behavior, can it be 
thought they will not increase the clamor of their gov- 
ernor, the next heir to one of the Proprietors should 
marry the Chief Justice's daughter. I think Mr. A. could 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 67 

not prudently continue in the office, that we could not 
with any degree of prudence permit him, tho' I be- 
lieve a man of too much honor to be under any in- 
fluence." 

The aforesaid John Penn was the son of Richard. 
He came over in 1763 as Lieutenant Governor of the 
Province, and was married to Ann, the daughter of Mr. 
Allen. In 1764 he offered increased bounties for the 
killing and scalping of all Indian enemies above ten 
years of age. He was very near-sighted, possessed 
the reserved family characteristic, and by no means 
popular. He died in Bensalem, Bucks county, in 1 795 , 
aged 67 years. He was buried in Christ Church yard 
and afterwards taken up and carried to England, "thus 
adding," as John F. Watson remarks, "to the strange 
aversion which members of the Penn family generally 
showed to remaining with us, either living or dead." 



BENJAMIN EASTBURN. 

As surveyor general of Pennsylvania at the particu- 
lar request of Thomas Penn, Benjamin Eastburn was 
present at the Walk for the purpose of noting the dis- 
tances and making a map of the same, assisted by his 
deputies, Nicholas Scull and John Chapman. Of his 
early history we know little more than that he was 
born in the year 1696 and resided a brief time in Ab- 
ington township, where he married Ann Thomas 29th 
of 8-mo., 1722. He was appointed to succeed Jacob 



l68 THE INDIAN WALK. 

Taylor as surveyor general (3ct. 29, 1733, and con- 
tinued in said office until on or near his death, his 
successor being William Parsons, who was commis- 
sioned August 22, 1 741. We are satisfied that he was 
not present at the Trial Walk in 1735, it being in 
charge of John Chapman. At the termination of the 
one and a half day's journey he ran the line in a north- 
east direction to near the mouth of the Lackawaxen, 
a distance of about sixty-six miles, and requiring four 
days' additional labor. 

That Mr. Eastburn did not perform an honorable 
part in this transaction is certain from his map, both 
in the manner he conducted the survey and endeav- 
ored to conceal thereby the advantages taken of the 
Indians, which however his employer may have im- 
peratively demanded from a too complying agent. 
As surveyor general, by the direction of Thomas Penn, 
he laid off many thousand acres of land in the present 
county of Northampton, in the years 1735 and 1736, 
which had been sold to purchasers, and which he must 
have known had never been acquired by any right or 
purchase from the Indians. He says on his map, "A 
day and a half's walk on the 19th and 20th of Septem- 
ber, 1 737, by Edward Marshall and James Yates, being 
about si.xty miles." This statement is very ingenious 
and worthy of Thomas Penn himself The whole dis- 
tance marked on the map was not walked by the two, 
James Yates having given out sometime before, but 
together they may have gone the sixty miles; and if 
they had it is still incorrect, for it should have been 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 69 

not less than sixty-six, and perhaps nearer seventy-two. 
Neither does he give the distance on the northeast 
h'ne, but instead says "a right line through a moun- 
tainous, barren country" — the object being to get in 
all the Minisink territory above the Blue Mountains 
sold nine years before to William Allen, under a pre- 
text of "a right line," and deceive by a "barren coun- 
try," as if there was no good land within the purchase. 
The map thus leaves the impression that whatever was 
comprised within the Walk could possess little value. 
The next fact is, as to the starting point. He places 
the beginning of the Walk at the intersection of the 
Durham road and Newtown township line, and yet the 
mass of evidence states and is confirmed by tradition 
that the walkers actually started about a mile further 
up so as to be enabled to extend the journey that much 
more at its close. This was another cheat which he 
has knowingly through his presence striven to cover. 
By John Chapman's memoranda of the Trial Walk he 
found the distance from Wrightstown to the Lehigh 
river 39 miles. Applying Eastburn's scale to his map 
the distance is but 32 miles, which, to the present town 
of Bethlehem, where the river was crossed, is incor- 
rect. 

Respecting his defence before the King against the 
Delaware Indian complaints presented by Dr. Frank- 
lin, Thomas Penn thus writes under date of London, 
March 11, 1757,10 his secretary, Richard Peters: "Of 
the Map of Benjamin Eastburn, on looking over which 
I observe what you say as to the head line going the 



I/O THE INDIAN WALK. 

shortest way to the River Delaware, instead of being 
run at right angles. I do not know that any line was 
run, or what was done upon it, that you will find by the 
Letters and Minutes at the time, but you know and 
will observe that we do not claim any above the Kit- 
tannin Mountains, which is almost as short a distance 
to the Delaware as any other by virtue of this Pur- 
chase ; and as to the walk to that place, it cannot be 
above forty miles, as you say the whole is not more 
than fifty. I am very well pleased you have found 
some Minutes of my having blamed Benjamin East- 
burn for having ran into the lands of the Six Nations, 
in extending the Walk beyond Kittannin Hills, which 
you will remember to mention to the Indians." 

In the foregoing there Js a general lack of veracity. 
That Benjamin Eastburn did actually run the said 
northeast line, and that he was duly paid therefor, his 
own accounts would have shown. As to his not claim- 
ing any land beyond the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains 
in 1757 by virtue of said map and Walk, places him in 
a still worse fix had his opponents known it, by his 
having sold thousands of acres there to William Allen 
and others, almost thirty years previously, and chiefly 
a secret to this day, and which to our personal knowl- 
edge the records of Bucks and Northampton coun- 
ties conclusively prove. As to the Walk being only 
thirty miles to the mountains, he must have known 
by said map was a falsehood, for it makes it forty- 
nine. We question that even Peters said that the 
whole was but fifty, when it really was somewhere be- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I / I 

tween sixty-five and seventy-two miles. If he had 
blamed Benjamin Eastburn for extending the Walk 
so far, why did he not relinquish the land and disclaim 
selling beyond the mountains ? Who will attempt to 
prove that the Six Nations had any bona fide claims 
there? His friend William Allen, under oath in 1762, 
fiv^e years later, said that all that land belonged to 
Tishcohan, Nutimus, and their descendants, who were 
Delawares. 

Mr. Eastburn, in the spring of 1739, commenced 
surveying the boundary line between Pennsylvania 
and Maryland, to the Kittatinny hills in Cumberland 
comity, a distance of one hundred and thirteen miles 
westward from the present state of Delaware. He 
made a report (Archives, Vol. I., p. 614), on the sub- 
ject, at Philadelphia, April 24, 1740, by which we 
learn that he was appointed to the undertaking De- 
cember 5, 1738, as principal surveyor, and Lawrence 
Growdon and Richard Peters to be present as com- 
missioners on the part of Pennsylvania. In a letter 
from Thomas Penn to Richard Peters, dated London, 
February 8, 1743, he reflects severely on his character: 
"We all look upon Benjamin Eastburn's secreting the 
Tract of Land so long before surveyed as a very dis- 
honest action, and shall nev^er allow his heirs to take 
one acre of it, so that they need not expect the least 
favor." Mr. Eastburn resided in 1733, in Lower Mer- 
ion, where it is supposed he subsequently died. 



172 THE INDIAN WALK. 



NICHOLAS SCULL. 



The subject of this sketch was the son of Nicholas 
and Abigail Scull, who settled in Whitemarsh, where 
it is known the family had resided for some time. 
He was born October 26, 1701, and must have re- 
ceiv^ed for this early day a fair education. That he 
was of studious habits is confirmed by Franklin in his 
autobiography, who says that he was a member of his 
club and that he "loved books and sometimes made 
verses." Having acquired a knowledge of the Indian 
language, he was occasionally employed by the gov- 
ernment and others as interpreter. In May, 1728, he 
was sent by Governor Gordon with his brother, John 
Scull, to treat with the Indians about some difficulties 
that had occurred at Manatawny. In 1731 we know 
that he resided in Philadelphia, and for several years 
afterwards. As deputy of Benjamin Eastburn in the 
fall of 1736, he made several surveys in the vicinity of 
the present Bethlehem and Nazareth for those who 
had taken up tracts there. According to Samuel Pres- 
ton, Edward Marshall about this time assisted him as 
a chain carrier. It is very likely owing to this cir- 
cumstance that he became engaged in making the sur- 
veys at the time of the Walk in 1737. He also as- 
sisted in running the northeast line to the Delaware, 
Alexander Brown says in his testimony that on his 
return to Captain Harrison's at the upper Indian set- 
tlement, as well as at Hockyondocquay, the Indians 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 73 

expressed to Mr. Scull their displeasure at the way the 
Walk was performed. 

Governor Thomas, in May, 1740, sent him to the 
Minisinks to settle a difficulty that had arisen between 
a white man by the name of Henry Webb and an In- 
dian, by which the former was wounded. He was ac- 
companied by John Lukens, and they had to hold 
their conversation, strange to say, with the Hollanders 
settled there, in the Indian language. They met with 
a very hospitable entertainment from the venerable 
Samuel Depue. In October, 1744, he was commis- 
sioned sheriff of Philadelphia county, which office he 
held for several years. In the previous August a del- 
egation of the Six Nations, with Shickalamy and others, 
visited Philadelphia to arrange some matters of busi- 
ness, when he again performed the duties of interpreter, 
and also in July, 1745, for the Indians from Shamokin. 
Owing to ill health, William Parsons, the surveyor 
general, resigned his office, when Mr. Scull was ap- 
pointed June 10, 1748, in his place. The county of 
Northampton was formed from Bucks in 1752, and the 
following year he was elected sheriff of the same, and 
continued in the office for three years, during which 
time he resided in Easton, after which he again re- 
moved to Philadelphia to follow surveying. 

On the agitation of the complaints of the Delaware 
Indians against the conduct of Thomas Penn, Governor 
Denny through his orders acted for his defence, and on 
January 25, 1757, took Mr. Scull's deposition on the 
Walk. It may be seen in full in the Colonial Records 



1/4 THE INDIAN WALK. 

(Vol.VII., p. 399), and commences in a manner which is 
in itself sufficient evidence that as a witness he was nei- 
ther disinterested nor impartial. " Mr. Nicholas Scull, 
surveyor general, came into Council, and acquainted the 
Governor that in September, 1737, he was present in 
running the Line of the Indian Purchase of the lands 
in the Forks of the Delaware, with respect to which 
the Proprietaries were, as he was informed, publickly 
charged with defrauding the Indians, that he had put 
down in writing what he remembered about it, and re- 
quested he might be examined thereto, which being 
done, he signed the Paper, and affirmed to Truth there- 
of before the Governor in Council and his affirmation 
was ordered to be entered as follows :" In his depo- 
sition, which was to be laid before the King, the fore- 
going was omitted, for the reason that it would appear 
that he was interested, and to have nothing said about 
the report of defrauding the Indians, while in the re- 
cords here it should be entered as if he had voluntarily 
come forward to defend the proprietaries of so vile a 
charge. His principal testimony consists in stating 
that he believes the Walk was fairly performed, and 
that he had heard no Indians complain about it. He 
says the Walk was continued some distance beyond 
the Blue Mountains, and that the whole distance walk- 
ed was about fifty-five statute miles. He is too much 
contradicted by several other witnesses that were also 
present for us to dwell on the veracity of his state- 
ments. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 75 

He could not have been ignorant as a surveyor of 
the true distance, and why did he not give that with- 
out any supposition? The favors he had received from 
the proprietaries in several ways and to which he was 
still beholden as surveyor general, were too strong for 
his better judgment, but there was perhaps a still 
stronger tie to bind him to Thomas Penn. He had 
prepared just then a large map of the Province, which 
he had dedicated to Thomas and Richard Penn, as 
" true and absolute Proprietaries and Governors," which 
the former was expected to liberally patronize. This 
map was published in 1759, and was entitled a map of 
the improved parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland, 
chiefly prepared from his own surveys. It was un- 
doubtedly the first correct map published of the Prov- 
ince on a large scale, embracing more than half the 
present area of the State. Copies of it are rare, the 
writer having seen but one, and for that early time, 
when the population probably did not exceed 200,000, 
it exhibits certainly no small degree of enterprise. 

Nicholas Scull was married to Rebecca Thompson 
October 7, 1732, and had children, Nicholas, John, 
Jasper, James, Mary, Abigail, Edward and Elizabeth. 
Nicholas, his eldest son, was married to a daughter of 
Solomon Jennings, and he has been mistaken by sev- 
eral writers for his father. The latter died in the fall 
of 1 76 1, and was succeeded the following December 
by John Lukens, of Horsham. It will be seen by the 
foregoing that he held the office of surveyor general 
for thirteen years, besides a number of other official 



176 THE INDIAN WALK. 

positions. As Indian interpreter, and for the publica- 
tion of several valuable maps relating to the Province, 
he certainly deserves our regard. It is to be regretted 
that a man of his acquirements did not also devote a 
portion of his time to literature and the hi.story of the 
times. This probably was prevented by his pecuniary 
condition, of which Richard Peters wrote in 1753, that 
though "industrious and enjoys a good office yet he 
has a large family and is not beforehand in the world." 
His five sons, it is said, were all surveyors. His grand- 
son, William Scull, also published a large and com- 
plete map of the Province in 1770. 

It may be mentioned that of the six depositions taken 
in behalf of Thomas Penn in 1757 relating to the Walk, 
Nicholas Scull's was the only one inserted in the min- 
utes of the Council, for the reason of its being the most 
favorable ; the five others were transmitted to England 
and probably no copies retained here. One thing is 
certain, that these depositions were kept concealed, 
and only such uses were made of them as was thought 
would best answer the purpose. Taken collectively 
they do not favor the proprietaries, and there is one 
evidence at least that they were tampered with after be- 
ing first taken. Thomas Penn, in a letter to Richard 
Peters, dated London, May 12, 1757, appears not to 
have been fully satisfied with Mr. Scull's mention of 
the whole distance, and says : " I wish he had men- 
tioned the distance to the foot of the mountains only." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I// 

TIMOTHY SMITH. 

The parentage and early history of Timothy Smitli 
we are unable to give, but as he lived for some time 
and died in the township of Upper Makefield, it may 
possibly be that he was a native of that section, for the 
surname is early known in that vicinity. He was first 
elected sheriff in 1728, and continued until 1730, and 
again from the fall of 1734 to 1737, when he was suc- 
ceeded by John Hart. He was also county treasurer 
at various times. As it has been published that the 
Walk came off in the fall of 1733, it will be seen by 
this that he was not sheriff at that time. It was no 
doubt owing to his official position that led to his be- 
ing appointed to have charge of the Trial Walk, and 
for which purpose he had been to the city with John 
Chapman and received his instructions personally from 
Thomas Penn. In April, 1735, it appears by the Penn 
Accounts that he selected, with John Chapman, the 
route, and had men employed to clear the way and 
mark the trees as a guide for the walkers to go by in 
the absence of roads and paths. The opening of the 
way involved considerable labor owing to its having 
been laid out by the compass to go in as direct a line as 
possible to the Lehigh Water Gap, if no further, lead- 
ing part of the way through a very rocky, hilly coun- 
try — as, fpr instance, through the present townships 
of Haycock, Springfield and Saucon. The total ex- 
pense allowed him was ;^33, js, or $89.33 of our pres- 
ent currency. 



1/8 THE INDIAN WALK. 

Respecting the Walk of 1737, he says in his depo- 
sition that he "was employed by Thomas Penn, Esquire, 
one of the Proprietors of this Province, and James 
Steel, their Receiver General, to superintend the go- 
ing a day and half's Walk." Edward Marshall, Moses 
Marshall and Joseph Smith, have respectively stated 
that Mr. Smith had offered a reward of five hundred 
acres of land to the one that should walk the farthest 
of the three in eighteen hours. We need not wonder 
that under such conditions, by the competition thus 
encouraged, there would be rapid walking, at the cost 
of the Indians and to the benefit of the proprietaries. 
Joseph Knowles, the nephew of Mr. Smith, and who 
was present and assisted at the Walk, says at about 
one o'clock of the first day " The Indians began to look 
sullen, and murmured that the men walked so fast; 
and several times that afternoon called out and said to 
them — you run — that's not fair — you was to walk. 
The men appointed to walk paid no regard to the In- 
dians, but were urged b\' Timothy Smith and the rest 
of the proprietor's party." He was at this time in his 
forty-seventh year, and no doubt from the great age sub- 
sequently attained, must have been still in his prime. 
The sum allowed him for this service was £26, 2s, 2d, 
and which includes the expense of a change in the 
route, compensation and entertainment of the walkers 
and several assistants. In the fall of 1739 he was 
elected a county commissioner, and in 1752, with five 
others, had the building of Makefield Meeting House. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 79 

Owing to the repeated charges made against the 
conduct of the proprietaries toward the Indians and 
the investigation demanded, at the request of Thomas 
Penn Governor Denny summoned Timothy Smith to 
Philadelphia, before whom, March 15, 1757, he testi- 
fied in regard to the Walk, only such evidence being 
set down, of course, as policy permitted. As far as it 
goes it appears to be pretty fair testimony, and admits 
the efforts made to have the Walk laid out as direct 
as possible, and that Benjamin Eastburn or Nicholas 
Scull had made use of a compass from the Indian set- 
tlement of Pocopoghcunk to the end of the Walk. 
That part of his evidence where he says the Proprietor 
did not covet so much land beyond the Blue Moun- 
tains was undoubtedly afterwards erased, as may be ob- 
served, with the view of this name not appearing, under 
any such circumstances, before the King. Hence we 
may conclude, where one such liberty was taken more 
followed, so as to garble and misconstrue as much as 
possible matters in favor of Thomas Penn, who, judg- 
ing from his actions, was doubtless the guilty party. 

As we learn by the Penn Accounts, Mr. Smith, 
John Heider and some other persons, were sent by the 
proprietary party to Easton in 1758 to attend the 
conference held there with the Indians and "to con- 
front and confute the false stories raised about the 
Indian Walk," for which services they were allowed 
i^20. He died in the beginning of May, 1776, at the 
advanced age of 86 years, leaving a wife Rachel and 



l8o THE INDIAN WALK. 

six children, namely : Timothy, Isaac, Joseph, Pleasant, 
Ruth and Rachel. 

Owing his appointment and compensation to Tho- 
mas Penn, and to whose influence he was also indebted 
for his commissions as sheriff, it is no doubt these 
several matters biased him in his favor, at a time too 
when there was no opposing interests. He doubtless 
meant to do his duty to his employer, and it is very 
likely that he had no knowledge of the circumstances 
attending the Trial Walk and the Walk of 1737, ex- 
cept as they revealed i/icmselves, and \\hen too late 
found himself a party to proceedings from which, had 
he known in time, he would have shrank in amaze- 
ment. However, he lived to see the consequences 
of a long Indian war and the powerful opposition 
engendered thereby, with the investigation of the 
matter, and, however innocent, it must have caused 
him serious reflections. As a witness he appears pos- 
sessed of considerable candor with no undue partiality 
for the party that required his testimony. That he 
should, like John Chapman, have kept the Trial Walk 
so completely secret from his neighbors, or descend- 
ants, is remarkable, but he may have acted thus from 
an implied understanding with Thomas Penn, or 
from circumstances that it was not politic for him to 
reveal. Respecting his participation in the Walk, 
Richard Peters wrote from Philadelphia, November 
22, 1756, to Thomas Penn: "Timoth}- Smith was then 
sheriff and had the direction of the whole affair, and is, 
I assure you, a man who will not flivor the Proprie- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. l8l 

taries, nor disoblige the Quakers, who have extreme- 
ly interested themselves in this inquiry." 



JOHX CHAPMAN. 

The subject of this sketch was the eldest son of 
John and Jane Chapman, born near Stanhah, York- 
shire, in 1679, who arrived here with his parents in 
1684, and were among the earliest settlers of Wrights- 
town. He was early known as a practical surveyor 
there, having' in 1719 divided the Park, as it was call- 
ed, containing 650 acres in the centre of the town- 
ship, among the adjoining landholders. In April, 
1723, he laid out by order of the court the road lead- 
ing from the county line near Governor Keith's resi- 
dence in Horsham to the south corner of John Dyer's 
land, being at the present Cross Keys. This was in 
consequence long known in old deeds as Dyer's 
road, and now the principal highway passing through 
Doylestown towards Philadelphia. 

At how early a period he was appointed deputy 
surveyor for Bucks county we are unable to state. 

We do know that he was personally engaged by 
Thomas Penn to make the requisite surveys for the 
Trial Walk from Wrightstown to the Lehigh Gap if 
not further. P'or this purpose he was specially em- 
ployed under the superintendence of Timothy Smith, 
then sheriff of the county. He commenced his labors 
April 22d, and did not get through till May i, 1735, 



1 82 THE INDIAN WALK. 

and by the Penn Accounts was allowed the sum of 
£4, paid him the following July 23d. This route 
passed up the Durham road to the present Garden- 
ville, thence west of the Haycock and near the pres- 
ent villages of Strawntown and Appelbachsville. From 
his memoranda copied years afterwards by John Wat- 
son we learn that he made the total distance to the 
Kittatinny or Blue Mountains 48^ miles. As related 
in a previous chapter the Trial Walk accordingly 
came off in the beginning of May, about which, as we 
learn from James Steel's correspondence, the proprie- 
tors were very anxious to know the result, particu- 
larly how far it had extended up into the country, so 
as to know the better how to treat with the Indians 
in relation to it at the next meeting held a few days 
afterwards at Pennsbury. 

Thomas Penn appears to have been sufficiently sat- 
isfied with his services as to engage him for the one 
day and a half's walk of September, 1737, which em- 
ployed him eight days in making the necessary sur- 
veys and in having the line of the Walk sufficiently 
cleared to expedite travel. The compensation given 
.him for these services was £2, Ss. He was in his 
fifty-eighth year at the time of this occurrence, and 
must have certainly possessed a vigorous consti- 
tution for one of that age to have thus been enabled 
to undergo, as he did, all the fatigues of travel and ex- 
posure attending it. Near the close of 1739 he mar- 
ried Ruth Wilkinson, and died in 1743 at the age of 
65 years. He left a son John who became a physi- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 8^ 



J) 



cian and the owner of considerable real estate in the 
county. 

After the conclusion of John Chapman's labors re- 
specting the Walk, it is reasonable to suppose that he 
could not have failed to observe therein the various 
studied and deep laid plans of Thomas Penn to take 
ev^ery possible advantage of the Indians. Having 
been a deputy surveyor of the county for twenty years 
and holding the office through the influence and con- 
sent of the proprietaries, may have been one reason 
why his participation therein remained so quiet and 
so completely escaped even the notice of the people 
of his neighborhood. From the Penn MSS. we also 
learn of his having been sent by James Logan in the 
fall of 1727 as a guide to the Minisinks in company 
with Nicholas Scull as Indian interpreter respecting 
the encroachments of the whites. In the chapter on 
Indian rights mention has been made of the displeas- 
ure exhibited by an Indian chief on his father having 
settled over the line of the Indian purchase, and of 
which it is most likely he must have had a knowledge. 
The evidence now is too strong to be rebutted that the 
walkers really started from a chestnut tree on the cor- 
ner of his land a few rods above the meeting house, 
while Benjamin Eastburn on his map denoted its com- 
mencement about a mile below, which no doubt was 
the true line and agreed with the said Indian chiefs 
observation. Now, as a life-long resident in the neigh- 
borhood and as an assistant in the survey, we cannot 
see how he could have been ignorant of a serious 



184 THE INDIAN WALK. 

fraud practiced here in the \'ery be^innin<^ of tlie Walk, 
ant! w hich has also so long remained a mystery and 
which he has done no more to reveal, explain or es- 
tablish, than lie has of the Trial Walk. Hence the 
question will arise, from his participation therein as a 
surveyor, how far can his reputation be creditably sus- 
tained. 



JAMES YATES. 

Like most of those mentioned in this work, the writer 
has heretofore seen no notice of this indixidual what- 
ever, except an incidental allusion in connection with 
the Walk. His father, James Yates, arrived at Phila- 
delphia as an indentured servant for fixe years with 
Henry Baker, in the Vine of Liverpool the 17th of 7- 
month, 1684. We know that he resided in Newtown 
township, Bucks count}', some time before 171 3, and 
that he sold this year a lot. of land containing twenty- 
two acres for £\6 to Daniel Doan, of the vicinity. He 
died in the spring of 1733, and by his will we ascer- 
tain that his wife Agnes sur\i\ed him, and that he had 
the following children: Josei:)h, James, Petjr, Robert, 
Sarah, Agnes, Margaret and Llizabeth. Judging by 
the foregoing, James ma\' have been the second son, 
who we know was married to Rachel Routledge at 
Wrightstown in the fall of 1727. 

There is no direct evidence that he was one of the 
three engaged in the Trial Walk of 1735, but the pre- 
sumption is strong enough to warrant the belief, and 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 85 

that through this circumstance he was again employed 
to be one of the walkers in 1737. Thomas Furniss, in 
his statement, says : "At the time of the walk, I was a 
dweller at Newtown and a near neighbor of James 
Yates. My situation gave him an easy opportunity of 
acquainting me with the time of the setting out." It 
appears that on the first day of the Walk it was almost 
as much as Edward Marshall could do to keep up with 
him. On the forenoon of the next day, being rainy, 
Timothy Smith says from growing lame and tired he 
gave out just before they crossed the Lehigh river, 
which in the evidence was here called TobyJianna creek, 
as is confirmed by N. Scull's map of 1759, probably about 
six miles before the journey was ended. John Heider, 
in his evidence, gives quite a different phase to the 
matter, for he says " that the said James Yates, having 
on the second day of the Walk drank rather too much, 
as he heard him declare, gave out and stopped, to the 
best of his remembrance about half an hour before 
the expiration of the time fixed, which was twelve 
o'clock at noon, but Marshall held out to the end of 
.said time." In corroboration, Alexander Brown says 
that " a short time before the Walk was finished the 
said James Yates having drank rather too much gave 
out and stopped." There is no doubt at the time he 
ga\'e out he must have accomplished at least sixty 
miles of the journey, to which Benjamin Eastburn on 
his map may probably have reference. 

The next mention we find of him is in 1 750, when 
by order of Abraham Chapman he was to receive from 



1 86 THE INDIAN WALK, 

the count}' treasurer for 17 squirrel scalps and one 
wolf's head, the sum of £\, 4s, thus indicating that 
he was, like the other walkers, fond of hunting at a j^e- 
riod when game was still abundant. hLdward Mar- 
shall, in his testimony, taken before Governor Denny, 
March i, 1757, states that "James Yates and Solomon 
Jennings both since deceased." Again, in the report of 
the Council on the Walk, January 6, 1758, mention is 
made of Marshall as " survivor of the Walkers." This 
would prove that he must have died somewhere be- 
tween 1750 and 1757. In the Penn Accounts, men- 
tion is made of ;620 having been paid September 
7, 1758, to " Heider, Yates and Smith for their attend- 
ance at Easton to confront and confute the false stories 
raised about the Indian Walk." Judging by this, the 
VaUs mentioned must have been some other person. 
The family appear to have been in humble circum- 
stances, and we believe but few or none of the name 
reside at present in the county. Samuel Preston was 
therefore c]uite mistaken when he said he had been 
informed " that James Yates, who led the way for thirty 
miles or more, was quite blind w hen taken out of the 
Durham creek and lived but three days afterwards." 
This statement, in connection with the Walk, has been 
repeatedly published, even quite recentl)'. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 1 87 

SOL OJ/O-V JENX/NGS. 

The name of Jennings occurs as early as 1683 in 
Friends' Records of Burlington Monthly Meeting and 
is also mentioned in Philadelphia a few years later, 
hence the subject of this sketch may be either a rela- 
tive or a descendant of one of those families. The 
earliest we know of him is that under a grant from 
the proprietors, dated March 5, 1736, he took up 200 
acres of land in a bend on the south side of the Le- 
high river about two miles above the present town of 
Bethlehem, on which he settled and chiefly resided 
the remainder of his days. It is our opinion that he 
was not engaged on the Trial Walk of 1735, but was 
afterwards substituted in the place of Joseph Doane. 
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Feb. 8, 1736-7, we 
learn " That one Solomon Jennings being recommend- 
ed as a man of discretion and conduct, the sheriff had 
constituted him his deputy for the preservation of the 
peace and the execution of those warrants lodged 
with him for apprehending several of the rioters" at 
Wyoming on the west side of Susquehanna, and "to 
prevent any further violence from Higgenbothem and 
his associates." 

From the services rendered he appears to have be- 
come somewhat of a favorite, for James Steel in a let- 
ter to Timothy Smith, dated August 27, 1737, in 
speaking of Edward Marshall, says, "when Solomon 
Jennings is expected to join and travel the day and a 
half with him." Whatever expectations had been 



l88 THE INDIAN WALK. 

formed of him as a walker were to be met with dis- 
appointment. On the first day of the Walk when he 
arrived about two miles beyond the Tohickon, at a 
place called Red Hill, which was between ten and 
eleven o'clock in the forenoon, he withdrew from the 
contest, and, as John Heider says, continued "with 
the rest of the compan)- till they came to the west 
branch of Delaware ; he there left them entirely and 
returned home." The distance traveled from Wrights- 
town to Red Hill was about eighteen miles. 

From the Northampton county records we learn that 
on the formation of the county in 1752, his petition was 
granted to keep a public house, and in 1753 the court 
appointed him an overseer of highways in Salisbury 
township, where he resided, and which office he re- 
tained for several years. In October, 1755, he was 
elected one of the county commissioners. On the 
breaking out of the Indian War he was appointed to 
the command of a company, in the fall of 1756 passed 
through Nazareth and the Wind Gap to scour the 
woods in search of the enemy and the bodies of 
those that may have been slain beyond the mountains. 
It ap])ears he did not long survixe this scrxice, has- 
tened perhaps by exposure, for he died February 17, 
1757, and was buried near his residence, where his 
grave may be seen. I^dward Ship])en, in December, 
1755, speaks of him as a "courageous and resolute 
fellow." 

His will, which we have examined, is written on 
l)archment and (juite length}'. To his name is affixed 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I 89 

his mark, possibly indicating that he could not write. 
He appears to have been possessed of some property. 
He appointed his sons John and Isaiah, and his son-in- 
law Nicholas Scull, his executors. His children's 
names mentioned therein are John, Rachel, Elizabeth, 
Isaiah, Susanna, Ezekiel and Judith. The death of 
Solomon Jennings occurred but twelve days before 
the examination of Edward Marshall, and had he 
lived but a little longer he would also have been re- 
quired to give his testimony respecting the Walk in 
behalf of the proprietaries. John Jennings, his eldest 
son, became sheriff of Northampton in 1762, and 
again in 1768, and proved himself an energetic officer 
in the Wyoming troubles. 



INDIANS. 

Concerning the Indians that once inhabited this sec- 
tion of Pennsylvania there will always be felt consid- 
erable interest. Though without civilization, and but 
a very rude knowledge of the arts, they were yet a 
people endowed with some of the noblest traits. Per- 
haps the aborigines of no other country possessed so 
free a form of government, and to which talent alone 
was the only qualification for position and preferment. 
Many of the relics of barbarism found in P^urope were 
unknown among them. They had neither castes nor 
rank, nor even hereditary privileges, which have been 



190 THE INDIAN WALK. 

so ]on<^ tlie bane of the old world, and tiie means of ele- 
vating the few at the expense of the many. Our In- 
dians were endowed with too inanK' and independent 
a spirit to tolerate the degrading effects of inferior po- 
sition. There were no feudal laws or privileges for the 
benefit of the few ; all had an equal right to the lands, 
to the game and to the fruits of the earth, without any 
restriction or limitation whatever. This condition had 
doubtless prevailed among them for thousands of years. 
When the whites came here they were justly aston- 
ished at their covetousness for lands, on which they 
had set no particular value except so far as it benefited 
all. This will account win- the Penns, who alone had 
the power to deal with them, found it so easy to take 
every advantage. The forcing of the Minisink lands 
from them, their favorite hunting grounds, in the man- 
ner they did must redound to their eternal disgrace, 
and for which they fought with so determined a resist- 
ance to recover as to cause Governor John Penn to order 
them to be most wantonly butchered and scalped. The 
Indians who were concerned in the Walk by which 
they were so grossly wronged deserve a tribute to 
their memory. 

S.ISSOOX.LV. 

The earliest we know of this chief was at a Council 
held at the house of F^dward Farmer, in Whitemarsh, 
May 19, 1712, at which were ptesent Governor Charles 
Gooken and several of his friends, besides a number 
of Indians. With .Sassoonaii, P>alochelan and Scho- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. I9I 

litchy were present, the latter being the principal ora- 
tor. The next we know of him is in the deed of Sep- 
tember 17, 1 71 8, by which is purchased from him and 
six other Delaware chiefs for the proprietaries, all the 
land from Duck creek to the south side of the Lehigh 
Hills and from the Delaware river to the Susquehanna, 
being about one-eighth of the present area of the State. 
Even with this extensive purchase, made at this early 
period, the settlers kept encroaching beyond its bound- 
ary, which occasioned great anxiety and uneasiness 
among the Delawares ; so much so that preparations 
had been made and alliances formed for war, which by 
prudence and skill was alone averted. 

Logan, in a letter to James Steel, November 18, 
1729, calls him "Sassoonan our very good friend." At 
a meeting in Philadelphia, August 13, 173 1, the former 
said to him: "We will discourse to you about the 
lands you claim, and shall speak of those affairs." As 
to selling the lands, he replied he could not answer 
till he had discoursed with the rest of his people. 
Here we see the cause in part no doubt of James Lo- 
gan writing unfavorably of him from Stenton, Oct. 18, 
1736, to Conrad Weiser. In a joint letter to the pro- 
prietaries from Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston and James 
Logan, dated Philadelphia, Nov. 13, 1731, is this ex- 
tract: "In 1718 a release was obtained of the chiefs 
of our Indians, for all the lands on .this side of Lehigh 
Hills, and beyond these it was resolved no settlements 
should be made till the lands were purchased of the 
Natives. In the mean time all possible care was taken 



192 THE INDIAN WALK. 

to preserve Sassoonan or Ollamapis.thc old King of our 
Delaware Indians, and the two young men who were 
to succeed him in strict friendship with us til! on your 
coming over, which they were constantly given to ex- 
pect that a Treaty might be concluded." The said 
young men, it appears, were Opekasset and Shacka- 
lawlin, who died shortly after said chief, one from 
small-pox and the otlier from an accident. Attention 
is here called again to the repeated violation of the 
foregoing declaration that beyond said Hills "it was re- 
solved no settlements should be made till the lands 
zvere purchased from the natives." 

The Penn Accounts tell us of several visits Sassoo- 
nan paid, with other Indians, to Philadelphia in Jan- 
uary, 1732, August, 1733, and July, 1734, for which 
their expenses had been borne. On the \'ery day of 
the Walk several barrels of meal are mentioned as 
having been sent to him costing i^2. August 18, 1740, 
C. Grassold is allowed for making him a coat, &c., 
;^3, 2.y, yd. As we see by the foregoing that he was 
still living, it must appear remarkable why he should 
have been entireh' omitted with Shicka!im\'and Civilit}' 
in the release of August 25, 1737. There is certainly 
cause here for suspicion of unfair dealing. On this matter 
Charles Thomson, in his Aliejiation, ^uh\'\s\\c:d in 1759, 
(p. 36) remarks: " It was therefore necessary in order 
that things might \>e carried on quietly, that the Deed 
of 1 71 8 should be passed over in silence, and that Sas- 
soonan should not be present or any of those who 
si'nied that deed." ♦ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. T93 

At a meeting held in Philadelphia before Governor 
George Thomas, from July 6 to 12, 1742, we find Sas- 
soonan or " Olumapies, chief of the Delawares of Sha- 
mokin,"as he is styled in the proceedings; at the con- 
clusion of which, with Nutimus, he was most grossly in- 
sulted in a speech made by Conassatego, an Iroquois 
chief, at the instigation of the Governor, who gave 
them immediate orders to remove from the territory 
they occupied and claimed or he would see that it should 
be done. In a letter from Conrad Weiser to Logan, 
dated Tulpehocken, September 27, 1747, he mentions 
that he had heard that Sassoonan or Olumapies was 
dead, but was not positive as to the fact. 

SHICKALIMY. 

However little known, this chief appears to have 
been of some note among the Indians, being mentioned 
in October, 1704, by James Le Tort. In a letter from 
James Logan to John Petty in 1728, he states: "Pray 
by all means bring Shakellamy either with you or as 
soon after as maybe with conveniency. Tell him partic- 
ularly that as he is set over the Shawaneh Indians, I 
hope he can give a good account of them ; they came 
to us strangers, about thirty years ago; they desired 
leave of this government to .settle amongst us as 
strangers, and the Conestogoe Indians became security 
for their good behavior. They are also under the pro- 
tection of the Five Nations, who have set Shickellamy 
over them." 



194 'fJ^E INDIAN WALK. 

Respecting this chief of the Oneidas, Logan wrote 
to Thomas Penn, Now 13, 1731 : " Shakcl!am\-, one of 
the Six Nations, was despatched with a small but hand- 
some present to invite some of their chiefs hither to 
treat of some affairs nearly concerning" their own safety. 
That man has ahva\'s been looked upon as sincere!)' 
our friend and entirely to be depended on. We just 
now hear he is returned to his own house about one 
hundred and twent\- miles distant and those people 
will be with us in the spring as he says." The infer- 
ence from these extracts is evident that he was insti- 
gated to lend his aid in keeping the Dclawares and 
Shawanese in submission prior to their forcible re- 
moval from the Minisinks. 

In the Penn Accounts we find eight bushels of wheat 
being delivered to him in 1733, and about the time of 
the Walk, meal to the value of £2, ys, '6d. Again, 
Feb. 9, 1738, a hand vice and a saddle costing £2, 2s,gd. 
He was present with a delegation of the Six Nations 
and several other Indians in Philadelphia at the meet- 
ing held in July, 1742, and August, 1744. On the 
latter occasion Nicholas Scull acted as interpreter. 
Conrad Weiser wrote, April 15, 1746, that"Shicke- 
limy is to be depended on very much in Indian affairs." 
This is the latest information we have obtained re- 
specting him. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 1 95 



TISHCOHAX. 

From an affidavit made by William Allen in 1762, 
we learn that as one of the owners of Durham Iron 
Works, he became, whilst on his visits there, person- 
ally acquainted with "Tishecunk, who was reputed to 
be an honest upright man," and with " Nutimus had 
always been esteemed to be the chief original owners 
of the land in and about the Forks of Delaware and 
adjacent lands above Tohiccon." This, coming from 
the great land speculator, is pretty good evidence that 
they had recognized rights there, and that any dissent 
from either as regards unfair dealings in obtaining said 
lands must be of some weight. By his o\\\\ oath, as 
we shall see, Allen has farther implicated himself with 
the Penns in depriving at least those Indians of a con- 
siderable portion of their lands, long before they had 
obtained any right to them, either by purchase or 
treaty, as has been mentioned in a previous chapter. 

By appointment, Tishcohen and Nutimus, in Octo- 
ber, 1734, had met John and Thomas Penn at Durham 
in relation to a treaty and sale of lands, and also in 
May, 1735, at Pennsbury, but no particular business 
was accomplished, except to have the Trial Walk se- 
cretly made in order to have things in readiness for 
the signing of the release for the Walking Purchase, 
which was duly concluded in Philadelphia in the pres- 
ence of Thomas Penn, William Allen, James Logan 
and others, August 25, 1737, and to which Tishcohan, 



196 THE INDIAN WALK, 

Nutimus and two other Delaware chiefs affixed their 
marks, which was walked out so rapidly the followint^ 
19th and 20th of Se[)teniber by Edward Marshall that 
Solomon Jennings and James Yates were compelled 
to succumb. From the testimony of Kphraim Good- 
win, who was present at the Walk, we learn that Tish- 
cohan was then an aged man, and lived at the Indian 
village called Hockendocqua, near which the walkers 
and company staid over night on their first day's jour- 
ney. 

Like nearly all Indian names, it has been variously 
spelled or called, as Teshakomen, Tiscoquam and Cap- 
tain John Tishekunk, perhaps according to the fanc}' 
of the several writers. The Historical Society have in 
their possession two original portraits, one of Tishco- 
han and the other of Lappawinzo, presented by Gran- 
ville Penn in December, 1834. They cannot fail to 
be regarded with interest, for it is said of all the early 
Indians once inhabiting Pennsylvania those are the 
only ones existing, and by the Penn Accounts we learn 
were painted by order of John Penn in the summer of 
1735 by Hesselius. In this portrait, which is nearly 
life size, he is represented with a Roman nose, a large 
mouth and several deep wrinkles reaching nearly across 
his forehead. He appears of a stout, muscular frame, 
about forty-five or fifty years of age, and what is sing- 
ular for an Indian a bunch of hair is growing from his 
under lip and chin. He has a blue blanket around 
him, and a scjuirrel skin pouch hanging on his breast 
in which there is a plaster of Paris j^ipe, thus proving 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 197 

it to be his tobacco pouch and that he was a consumer 
of "the weed." His hair is so long as to be gathered 
together on the back of his head. 

According to Heckewelder, Tishcohan means in the 
Delaware language '"He ivJio never blackens himself." 
In referring to the likeness, we find the truth of this 
definition, in the absence of those daubs of paint with 
which many of the Indians were in the practice of dis- 
figuring themselves. We are thus minute because few 
opportunities can occur of similar descriptions respect- 
ing those who so long dwelt here and occupied im- 
portant if not conspicuous positions in our early his- 
tory. We give the following extract from the report 
of the committee (Memoirs Historical Society, Vol. 
III., pp. 2 1 i-i 2,) respecting those portraits : " Of Lap- 
pawinzo we have been able to discover no further no- 
tice in history. James Logan speaks of him in 1741 
as an honest old Indian. Tishcohan seems to have 
moved to the West, and was met by Frederick Post 
when he made his first journey to visit the Indians on 
the Ohio, in July, 1758. Such is the whole result of 
the inquiries of this committee, although they have 
examined all the documents printed and manuscripts 
within their reach. They have only to regret that they 
have been able to give so little interest to their Report, 
and that so little has been handed down to us of the 
history of the only two chiefs of the Lenni Lenape 
whose portraits have been preserved." 



198 THK INHIAN WALK, 



.\Y 77.)/r.V. 

The earliest we know of this chief is in the Penn 
Accounts, where mention is made that Joseph Hitch- 
cock was paid Nov. 16, 1732, £i,6s "for entertaining 
Nutimus and co." We next learn that in company 
with Tishcohan and Tunam he visited Thomas Penn 
June 9, 1733, on matters relating to lands. On the 
proprietaries' trip to Durham in October, 1734, it ap- 
pears he resided at the Nockamixon flats, some six 
miles distant, to which a messenger had been sent for 
his presence. On this occasion he complained of the 
increasing encroachments of the whites and expressed 
a disposition to act a fair part with them. He was 
also at Pennsbury, May 9, 1735, being a few days after 
the Trial Walk, of which of course he was ignorant. 

In a letter of instructions from James Logan to Con- 
rad W^eiser, Oct. 18, 1736, he speaks unfavorably of 
Nutimus ; that he was a Jersey Indian and had no riglit 
to lands on this side the Delaware, and that he wanted 
to excite a war between the Indians and the pjiglish. 
He is also unfavorable therein to Sassoonan and Man- 
awhyhickon, the latter being one of those who signed 
the deed of Aug. 25, 1737, for the Walk. We cannot 
learn that Nutimus was present at the Walk, or that he 
even had any knowledge of its coming off, yet accord- 
ing to Allen's testimony in 1762, he was one of the 
original owners of the lands above Tohickon and the 
Forks. On ascertaining the results of the Walk, he 



bioc;rai'hicai, sketches. 199 

became still further dissatisfied and in consequence his 
name is found attached, with those of six other Indians, 
to the paper sent to Judge Langhorne, dated Smith- 
field, Jan. 3, 1740-41, in which they complain of the 
continued encroachments of the whites, and that it 
zvas not safe for the lives of any persons to take their 
part. As a result, when Nutimus, Sassoonan and the 
other Delawares went to Philadelphia in July, 1742,10 
attend a Council with Governor Thomas, the latter in- 
stigated Conassatego, an Iroquois chief, through pres- 
ents given him, to grossly insult them, and order them 
at once to remove from the lands they occupied or 
else he would enforce the demand. 

Of the foregoing, Gordon, in his History of Penn- 
sylvania (pp. 253-4), makes the following remarks: 
"During the administration of Governor Thomas in 
1742, the Indians complained that the walkers who 
outstripped them, ran, and did not pursue the course 
of the river, as they anticipated. The chief Nutimus, 
and others, who signed the treaty of 1737, refused to 
yield peaceable possession of these lands, and declared 
their intention to maintain themselves by force of arms. 
Under these circumstances, the proprietaries invoked 
the interposition of the Six Nations, whose authority 
over the Delawares was well known. Upon this in- 
vitation, a deputation of two hundred and thirty from 
those powerful tribes visited Philadelphia, where they 
were met by delegates from the Delawares, who had 
also been invited." On which occasion they were or- 
dered to leave their lands, though reserved in the deed 



200 THE INDIAN WALK. 

of 1737, in tlie presence of Thomas Penn, tlic right to 
"be permitted to remain on their present settlements 
and plantations, though within that purchase, without 
being molested." 

Samuel Preston, in a communication written in 1826, 
says that Nutimus and his daughter lived in a cabin 
for some time in Nockamixon,and had been regarded as 
a physician, and that he was then "a feeble gray headed 
old Indian who could not speak much luiglish." Col. 
Shippen, in a letter dated Fort Augusta, Jan. 20, 1758, 
states that several "small parties of Delaware Indians 
have arrived here with skins to trade at the store; 
among them old King Nutimus." The Rev. David 
Zeisberger gives him an excellent character; that he 
was born near Philadelphia, and never drank liquor; 
that his name implies a striker of jisJi zvitJi a spear, and 
that he moved with his brother Isaac to Ohio, a short 
time before 1750, where he died on the Muskingum in 
1780. 

I.APPOIVIXZO. 

At the treaty held at Pennsbury May 9, 1735, with 
John and Thomas Penn, the proprietaries, this chief 
distinguished himself as the principal orator. On this 
occasion Nutimus, Tishcohan, Lesbeconk and others 
were present. Another meeting was agreed upon in 
Philadelphia, which was accordingly held on the 24th 
and 25th of August, 1737. in the presence of Thomas 
Penn, and on the latter day Lappowinzo. Manawhy- 
hickon, Tishcohan and Nutimus signed the release for 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 20I 

the Walking Purchase, witnessed by fourteen whites 
and twelve Indians. Barefoot Brinston acted as inter- 
preter. 

From the Penn Accounts we receive sufficient in- 
formation to believe that the portraits of Lappowinzo 
and Tishcohan were taken by order of John Penn dur- 
ing the Pennsbury meeting by Hesselius, a Swedish 
artist. Lappowinzo is represented as a stout Indian of 
about forty years of age. A few black marks are 
painted on his forehead and cheeks. His hair is long 
and brought to the back part of his head, with a blue 
blanket thrown around him and a pouch on his breast 
fastened to his neck. 

From Edward Marshall's testimony, taken in 1757, 
we learn that on the night of the first day's Walk they 
lodged near an Indian town called Hockyondocquay, 
and that early next morning Nicholas Scull, Benjamin 
Eastburn and another person went to said settlement 
and spoke with Lappowinzo, who lived there, to send 
some other Indians to accompany the walkers for the 
remaining distance, when he replied "that they had got 
all the best of the land and they might go to the Devil 
for the bad and that he would send no Indians with 
them." He further stated that about eight weeks after 
the Walk he was again at the Indian town, when the 
same chief said that "they were dissatisfied with the 
Walk, and that they would go down to Philadelphia 
the next May with every one a buckskin to repay the 
proprietor for what they had received from him and 
take their land again." He also complained that the 



202 THE INDIAN WALK. 

Walk was not fairly performed, and should not go the 
course fixed on by the proprietors, but should have 
gone along the Delaware, or b)' the nearest Indian 
path, as the proper direction. Ale.xander Brown, in 
his evidence, corroborates the foregoing. 

It was Lappowinzo that Moses Marshall had refer- 
ence to in his reminiscences taken down by John Wat- 
son, Jr., in a visit in 1822, in which "An old Indian 
said 'no set down to smoke, no shoot a squirjel, but 
lun, lun, lun all day long.'" B}' this it would appear 
he had been pretty well up in years. Heckewelder 
says that his name signifies going aiv ay to gather food. 
It would seem by some of the .statements as if he had 
been chiefly instrumental in the selection of John 
Combush, Neepaheilomon alias Joe Tuneam, who 
could speak English, and his brother-in-law, Tom, the 
three young men appointed on the side of the Indians 
to be present as deputies to see that the Walk was 
fairly performed. James Le Tort, an Indian trader, 
mentions dealings with Lappowinzo in 1704, if not 
somewhat earlier. According to the report of the 
committee on his portrait, James Logan, in 1741, men- 
tions him "as an honest old Indian." 



AVE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 



CHAPTER I. 

HIS EARLY CAREER. 



An interest taken in the life of an individual usually 
extends itself to his family and to the name by which 
it is known and distinguished from others. By its very 
signification the name of Marshall could not likely 
have originated from humble circumstances or applied 
to a lowly condition of life. It has about the same 
application in English as in French and German; in 
its general sense an office, particularly given in ancient 
times to one who had command of all persons be- 
low the dignity of princes. As a surname it is in 
consequence known from an early period, as is con- 
firmed by works treating on heraldry. At the present 
time it has a broader application, and its orthography 
varies to conform to the language that uses it. Judg- 
ing by Burke's General Armory, there are now a num- 
ber of families bearing it in Great Britain. 

As to the ancestry of Edward Marshall the opinions 
of his descendants vary, some stating that he was born 
in England ; but this we do know that he was here at 



204 I-Il'E OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

least when quite a young man and prior to 1733. In 
his examination before Governor Denny in 1757, he 
said that he was " of the people called Quakers," aged 
forty-two years and "a husbandman" b)' occupation. 
According to the inscription placed on his tombstone 
b\' his famil)^ he was born in 1710, but on the author- 
ity aforesaid in 1 71 5. One tradition is that he was 
twenty-four years old when he performed the Walk, 
which would make it about 171 3. The greatest dis- 
crepancy here is, however, but fi\e }-ears, and the latter 
date would prove a medium. One century and three- 
cjuarters ago is no inconsiderable lapse of time, which 
records alone can make clear. These facts are men- 
tioned as some of the man}- instances of the difficulties 
that beset historians and biographers at the very com- 
mencement of their labors. 

Samuel Preston, in a communication written in 1826, 
says Marshall was a native of Bucks county, but this 
is questionable. There- is a famil)- tradition that he 
was either born or lived when quite young in or near 
Rustleton, Philadelphia county, that he subsequently 
resided in the vicinity of Newtown, for a long period the 
county seat of Bucks ; was passionately fond of hunt- 
ing, and to his having served several surveyors as chain 
carrier, especially Nicholas Scull and perhaps Benjamin 
P'.astburn. It may be that it was through this acquaint- 
ance and from a residence in the vicinity that led to 
his being selected one of the three to attempt what 
has since become so widely and popularl\- known as 
the Indian Walk, which was afterwards to be reported 



HIS EARLY CAREER. 205 

and laid before the King. He had at least three 
brothers, William, Moses and John, and a sister Re- 
becca. The former two it would appear were older 
than himself From this it would seem probable that 
the father may have accompanied the family here if he 
did not actually precede it. 

Edward was married, it is believed, in 1735 or the 
following year. According to his descendants his 
first wife was Elizabeth Oberfeldt, anglicized Overfelt 
or Overfield. She was of German origin and a resi- 
dent of New Jersey. No doubt the acquaintance was 
in part brought about by a brother a short time pre- 
viously having married his sister. Edward, with his 
brothers William and Moses, made application for un- 
settled lands above Tohickon creek, and for which 
warrants were granted as early as 1733. In conse- 
quence, Nicholas Scull, deputy surveyor general, laid 
off the lands on the 9th of May, 1738, in three tracts. 
Edward's contained 164 acres and 1 14 perches, the 
east corner of which touched on the Delaware, stated 
to be bounded on the ea.st by the London Company's 
land and on the south by Mathew Hughes'. William 
Marshall's 162 acres and 1 17 perches were laid off ad- 
joining his brother's tract on the northwest. Moses 
Marshall's tract of 174 acres and 28 perches was laid 
off about three-fourths of a mile west of the above, 
and we infer from the original draft is the tract that 
contains the present Marshall's graveyard, which will 
account for its location from near this early period. 



206 1.IFI-: OF KDWARI) MARSllAl.I.. 

These several tracts were taken from what was 
known as the Streiper Tract, containing originally four 
thousand four huntlred and fort\'-eight acres, and ]:»ur- 
chased of William Penn in March, 1682, by John 
Streiper, a native and resident of the Duchy of Juliers 
on the borders of German}'. It was actually located, 
surveyed and laid off to him the 26th of March, 1703, 
and confirmed under the great seal of the Province the 
24th of June, 1705. Now the said John Streiper, also 
his attorney, and after his death in 171 7, his heirs, state 
in a petition that they had tried in various ways to sell, 
but in vain, alleging that all their endeavors on this 
matter "had no effect, because of a claim made to the 
land by the Indians, who say they never yet sold it." 
This matter, sorely against their wishes and earnest 
remonstrances, lingered until 1725, when it was, through 
the hands of James Logan, returned to the heirs of 
Wm. Penn. We hav^e in this a strong instance of a 
powerful virtuous sentiment j)re\ailing among the mass 
of the people here, not only in respect to their own 
rights but those of others. This curious bit of history 
has only recently come to light through the original 
documents obtained in England. But this is only one 
of numerous other exceptions of which no records 
have been yet produced, that the Indian title thereof 
had been prexiously extinguished even at so long a 
period before the Walk, thus actuall}' confirming what 
the Indians hav^e always claimed, that north of the To- 
hickon the lands had been sold b\- the Penns and set- 
tled upon b\' the whites without an)- previous com- 



HIS EARLY CAREER, 207 

pensation to or purchase from them. It was no doubt 
owing to this circumstance that immediately after the 
Walk the Marshalls were induced to locate and settle 
on their respective tracts, as well as the other early immi- 
grants to this section, for we possess no knowledge of 
any having preceded them. 

The names of these three brothers in corroboration 
is found with twenty-three others on a petition to the 
Court of Quarter Sessions of Bucks county, dated 
March 12, 1738, asking for the organization of a new- 
township to be called "Tennicunk," in which they call 
themselves "divers inhabitants of the lands adjacent to 
Plumstead." Thus soon after came the present town- 
ship of Tinicum into existence, so long the homes of 
the Marshalls, and where now reside hundreds of their 
respected descendants and still holding many acres of 
its best soil. It was through this family that it derived 
its name. The tract of William Marshall lay imme- 
diately opposite what has been so long known as Mar- 
shall's Island, but not approaching the Delaware by 
about half a mile, a strip of the London Company's 
land intervening. Having become its earliest pos- 
sessor, he called it Tenicunk, being its original Indian 
name, which in the Delaware language signified an 
island covered with timber, and Tekene or Tacony, a 
place abounding with woods. 

The first public road to this section was laid out by 
John Watson the 7th, 8th and 9th of June, 1747, from 
the landing at London Ferry (now PVenchtown) by 
the mouth of Tinicum creek, crossing the Tohickonat 



208 l.IFK OF KDWAKl) MAUSHAl.l.. 

Mearn's Ford and strikintr the Durham road at wliere 
is now Hinkletown, being twelve miles and thirty-one 
perches in length, the name of said ferry being derived 
from the London Company's purchase, which lay here 
immediately along the river and extending northwards 
from Edward Marshall's corner. The opening of this 
highway no doubt greatly promoted the improvement 
of this section. It was over the Durham road that the 
Walk was made, and which in 1 746 was opened north- 
wards to the iron works that gave it the name. 



CHAPTER II. 

HIS ACCOUNT OF THE WALK. 

We have now approached, in these scanty materials 
legarding Edward Marshall, to the period of the "fa- 
mous Walk," that through its results became so long 
a subject of intense interest not only throughout this 
country but in Europe, and upon which volumes were 
written during the sway of the Penns, who, it will ap^ 
pear, did not without cause style themselves "true and 
absolute Proprietors" of what is now the noble Com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania. The Penn Papers, ac- 
quired a few years ago in England, reveal the singular 
fact that before a meeting should take place with the 
Indians at Pennsbury, John and Thomas Penn had or- 
dered a trial or experimental walk to be secretly made. 
For this purpose a road was opened through the woods 
and a survey made under direction of Timothy Smith, 
sheriff of Bucks county, James Steel, receiver general, 
and John Chapman, deputy county surveyor, all hold- 
ing their commissions from the proprietaries. Steel 
sent a second letter, dated April 29, 1735, to the above 
named on this matter, in which he says: "The Pro- 
prietaries are very much concerned that so much time 
hath been lost before you began the work recom- 
mended so earnestly to you at your leaving Philadel- 



2IO LIFE OF FDWARl) MARSFIAl.l,. 

phia; they now desire that upon the return of Joseph 
Doane, he together with two other persons who can 
travel well, should be ininiediatel)- sent on foot on the 
day and half journey, and two others on horseback to 
carry necessary provisions for them and to assist in 
their return home. The time is so far spent that not 
one moment is to be lost ; and as soon as they have 
travelled the day and half journey, the Proprietaries 
desire that a messenger may be sent to give them an 
account of without delay how far that da\' and a half 
travelling will reach up the country." 

Two days after the signing of the release for the Walk- 
ing Purchase of August 25, 1737. James Steel wrote to 
Timothy Smith that "the time for walking over the 
land is to be the 1 2th of September next, and for that 
purpose our Proprietor would request thee to speak to 
that man of the three which travelled and held out the 
best when they walked over the land before to attend 
to that service at the time mentioned, when Solomon 
Jennings is expected to join and travel the day and a 
half with him. Thou art also recjuested to accompany 
them, and to provide such provisions for these men 
as may be needful on the occasion desired. John 
Chapman is also to go along and with you, — and be 
sure to choose the best ground and shortest way that 
can be found. The Indians intend tliat two or three 
of their young men shall be present and see the land 
fairly walked over." That man of the three who had 
" held out best when they walked over the land before," 
\\c have e\'erv reason to belie\c, was Edward Marshall, 



HIS ACCOUNT OF THE WALK. 2 I I 

whom Thomas Penn was now again anxious to secure, 
the more successfully to accomplish his object, in the 
greatest possible extent of the walk. In consequence 
of the court being in session at Newtown, it was de- 
ferred until the following Monday (September 19th), 
when the Walk was commenced and completed the 
next day, the walkers accomplishing upwards of sev- 
enty miles in eighteen hours, averaging about four 
miles an hour. The several witnesses agree that the 
distance was traveled from VVrightstown to Durham 
creek in six hours, which may be fairly estimated at 
thirty miles, averaging five miles per hour, which may 
well be regarded as most extraordinary walking. Had 
this speed been maintained throughout, the distance 
made would have been ninety miles. 

The narration of Edward Marshall, we believe, has 
not heretofore been published, and we shall therefore 
now present it as copied from the original document. 
We regret to say that owing to certain parts of it hav- 
ing become either purposely defaced, or obliterated 
through time, we arc obliged to make a slight abridg- 
ment, which we suppose does not e.xceed one-sixteenth 
part of the whole. We have no doubt that, particu- 
larly near its beginning, some important information 
has thus become lost. 

"The examination of Edward Marshall of Mount 
Bethel township, Northampton county, husbandman, 
aged forty-two years, taken the Finst day of March, 
1757, who being of the people called Quakers on his 
solemn affirmation, accordingly saith : that on the 



2 12 LIFE OF EDWARD .MARSIE\EL. 

Twelfth day of September in the year 1/37, as this 
affirmant believes, he was employed by Timoth)- Smith 
pursuant to a purchase and begun the said walk at 
six o'clock in the morning from a Chestnut tree in 
the line of John Chapman in Wrightstown. Bucks 
count)- : that they kept the great Durham road from 
Wrightstown which they were directed to go, about 
north northwest and continued walking by the said 
^reat road to Gallows Hill, and from thence b\- a lesser 
road till twelve o'clock noon and then halted at the 
Widow Wilson's plantation on a branch of Scook's creek 
in order to dine and stayed there fifteen minutes, and 
then set off again, continuing about the same course 
by an old beaten Indian path, and crossing Saucon 
and the Lehigh, where Bethlehem now stands ; con- 
tinued the walk by the same old Indian path till fifteen 
minutes past six o'clock in the evening, when the)' 
halted near an Indian town called Hockyondocqua 
and there stayed all night: saith that the reason of 
their continuing their walk fifteen minutes after six 
o'clock was to make up the time which had been taken 
up in their halting at noon as aforesaid. The next 
morning some of the company's horses having strayed 
away, they went about two hours in looking for them, 
and then returned to the station where they had fixt 
and left the staves in the evening before. They began 
the walk again without any Indians with them at eight 
o'clock from where they left off and continued it by 
the said old Indian path for about one hour, until they 
came to Pokopoghcunck ; then continued their walk 



HIS ACCOUNT OF THE WALK. 213 

through the woods north northwest b)' a compass, 
which this affirmant then carried in his hand, but had 
not used before; and pursuing that course all the time 
and the said Yates having given out and stayed at 
Tobyhanna creek, this affirmant continued the walk in 
company with Alexander Brown, who carried the 
watch, and Enoch Pearson, being both on horses, until 
two o'clock in the afternoon and then stopped, in order 
to close and determine said walk on the north side of 
Pokono Mountain, where they marked five Chestnut 
oaks by putting stones in the forks of them. This 
affirmant saith that the reason of his continuing to 
walk two hours after twelve o'clock noon was to make 
up for the same time which they had lost in the morn- 
ing in seeking the strayed horses as aforesaid. That 
the said affirmant did not run all of said time of going- 
said eighteen hours walk from beginning to the end 
thereof This affirmant being asked why the Indians 
who were with them the first day did not continue 
the second half day, replied that the Indians who had 
set out with them in the morning of the first day left 
them the next morning. Nicholas Scull, Benjamin 
Eastburn, and another person whose name he has 
forgotten, went early the next morning to the Indian 
town half a mile distant, where the Delaware chief 
Lappawinso then lived, to desire he would send some 
other Indians to accompany the walkers for the rest 
of the walk, but they returned with the following an- 
sw^er from the said chief, which was that the .said walk- 
ers had got all the best of the land and that they might 



2 14 '-'I"l'^ "'■' J-1>^VARI) MARSIIAI.I,. 

go to the Devil for the bad, and that he would send 
no Indians with them. Being further asked if he 
had ever heard an\' of the Indians express any un- 
easiness about tile said walk, saith that about eight 
weeks after performing said walk he happened to be in 
compan)' with Lappawinso at the said Indian town of 
Hockyondocqua with Tishacunch and some other In- 
dians, being the first time he had seen them after said 
walk, he then heard the said Lappawinso say that they 
were dissatisfied with the said walk and that they 
would go down to Philadelphia next Ma\' with every 
one a buckskin to repay the Proprietor for what the\' 
had received from him and take their land again, and 
complained that the said walk was not fairly perform- 
ed nor the courses run as they should have been. 
That he has heard said Lappawinso and other Dela- 
ware Indians frequently say that the said walk should 
not go the course agreed on between them, the Indians 
and the Proprietors, for that they should have gone 
along the courses of the Delaware. This affirmant 
further saith, that the place where the said walk end- 
ed at the said Five Chestnut (\aks as aforesaid was as 
he believes twenty miles* or thereabouts bexond or to 
the northward of the Kittatinny Hills. 

Subscribed and affirmed to by Pxiward Marshall, 
2d March, 1757, before William Denny." 

We must remember that the foregoing was taken 
upwards of nineteen )'ears after the Walk, and the 

*'rhis distance, with [ohii Ciiapinan's survey to said mountains, 
\v<)ul<l make the Walk si\t\-nine and three fourtli miles. 



HIS ACCOUNT OF THE WALK. 215 

time set for its performance was to have been Septem- 
ber 1 2th, but it was postponed until the 19th, which will 
account for the discrepanc}- in regard to the exact 
date. This testimony was brought about through 
the charge of Tedyuscung that the Proprietaries of 
Pennsylvania had defrauded the Indians of great quan- 
tities of lands, partly through this Walk and a forged 
deed. Governor Denny, before whom this testimony 
was taken, owed his position at that very time to the 
Pennsand he cannot therefore be judged as impartial. 
We more particularly mean in omitting what did not 
suit his or their views, through the instructions that 
he may have previously received. 



CHAPTKR III. 

REMOVES TO NOKITIAMPTOX COUXTV. 

From his testimony on the Walk we learn that Ed- 
ward Marshall, about the middle of November, 1737, 
had been at the Indian town of Hockyondocqua and 
at the time had a conversation with the Delaware chiefs, 
Lappawinzo and Tiscohan, who it appears resided 
there. Judging by the time of year he was no doubt 
on one of his usual hunting campaigns into that sec- 
tion, the location of which was but a few miles below 
the Lehigh Gap. At what time he remo\'ed his family 
from Tinicum to Mount Bethel township we are unable 
to state, but it was at least as early as 1752, judging 
from a record of wolf and fox scalps that he had then 
been paid for in Northampton county. His love for 
game and the pursuit of lumbering may also have 
materially aided in his coming hither. Further, his 
brother John Marshall and his nephews Abnor and 
Benjamin Overfield, the sons of his sister Rebecca, 
also resided in this section but on the north side of 
the Mountain in Lower Smithlield township, as also 
several of his wife's relations, which ma)' ha\'e given ad- 
ditional inducement. Jacobus or Cobus creek emp- 
ties into the Delaware about four miles below the 
Mountain or Water (iap. It is tnir opinion that he 



REMOVES TO NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 21/ 

resided within a mile or two of the mouth of this stream. 
One account makes it about eighteen miles from Easton, 
which would make it further south. However, this 
we know from his own statement that it was in Mount 
Bethel township. 

It may be well enough before we proceed further 
to give at this period some account of Northampton 
county, which had been formed from Bucks in the 
spring of 1752. Easton had been laid out a town as 
early as 1738, but made very slow progress as regards 
growth until it became the county seat. At its for- 
mation Northampton is supposed to have contained 
between five and six thousand inhabitants, settled in 
ten townships, of which number about one-tenth were 
Scotch-Irish, three hundred Dutch in Smithfield, and 
the rest chiefly Germans. By the original Forks was 
meant all that section of country lying between the 
confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware rivers, extend- 
ing northwards to the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, or 
sometimes applied beyond this in the early settled 
portions. It contained ten grist mills at this time. 
Acgording to N. Scull's map of 1759, Northampton 
county possessed several public roads ; one extending 
from Easton through the Wind Gap thence northeast 
to Fort Hamilton, now Stroudsburg, by Broadhead's, 
thence to Depue's on the Delaware about four miles, 
thence up the same to Hyndshaw's eight miles, where 
was a mill, and also one at Quick's, sixteen miles fur- 
ther. A road is represented from Easton to Bethle- 



2l8 I. IKE OF EL)\VARI) M ARSl I Al.l,. 

hem and from thence to Philadelphia and one to Berks 
county. 

As it has been published that Marshall's creek had 
received its name from h'.duard Marshall, we will here 
state that we cannot find that he had any residence in 
that vicinit)^ and we believe that it was so called after 
his brother John Marshall who we know by records 
M'as still living there in 1 774, having two children under 
twenty-one years of age residing with him and tax- 
able for two head of cattle. This stream is about eight 
miles in length and is a branch of the Anolomink or 
Kroadhead's creek, emptying into it about a mile from 
the Delaware. It is represented on N. Scull's map 
of 1759 and William Scull's of 1770, but we cannot 
find it named earlier than on Reading Howell's large 
map of 1792, without an\- mills being denoted along 
its course. It is a wild romantic stream and its scener\- 
has formed favorite subjects for the painter. 

As orders had been given by the British govern- 
ment that the conduct of the Proprietaries of Penn- 
sylvania should be enquired into regarding their trans- 
actions with the Indians and the cause of the war, the 
Penns, in self-defence, secured the influence of their 
Deputy Governor, William Denny, who issued a sum- 
mons on P2dward Marshall, and by an express, Janu- 
ary 23, 1757, conveyed him from his home here to 
Philadelphia and actually kept him there until the 
following March 2d before he was released for an ac- 
cc^unt of his knowledge respecting the famous Walk, 
which has just been given. The charge made to the 



REMOVES TO NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 2I9 

Penns for his delivery in the city was ^i, i8s, 6d, and 
he was rewarded with only ^5 ($13.33) ^or about forty 
da}'s' detention. Of this affair Moses Marshall re- 
lated to John Watson in 1820, that "a person came to 
their house with a summons for his father to appear 
before Lord Loudoun in Philadelphia, and was very 
particularly examined respecting the Walk, his ac- 
count taken down in writing to be sent to England. 
While in Philadelphia he was strictly guarded by two 
grenadiers, and not suffered to talk to any other 
person respecting the W'alk or his present business." 
After some research we are inclined to believe the 
foregoing an actual fact. Lord Loudoun's army was 
quartered in Philadelphia in December, 1756, and re- 
mained there until into the following spring, whilst 
he chiefly resided in New York. He proved to be an 
overbearing scion of the British aristocracy, dictating 
to both the Governor and Assembly through his in- 
structions. In the Colonial Records (Vol. VH, p. 
379) under date of March 21, 1757, we find that he 
had actually requested Governor Denny to issue war- 
rants for the arrest of suspicious persons for confine- 
ment in the Philadelphia prison and he may therefore 
have been present at this examination. W^e know he 
was in the city a few days thereafter. 

The following circumstance goes to show the silli- 
ness of some people. David Broadhead and Edward 
Biddle certified at Easton, July 27, 1757, (see Penna. 
Archieves, Vol. I, p. 244) that they had "heard Wil- 
liam Marshall say the following words, or words to 



2 20 THE LIFE OF EDWARD .MARSHALL. 

the same effect, namely, that the Proprietors had 
wronged the Indians out of their lands ; and he would 
prove it, and in that respect he abided with the In- 
dians." This charge was made against the second 
son of Edward Marshall, who we know at this time 
was not over nineteen years of age, and after his moth- 
er had been killed by the Indians only about nine 
\veeks. This Edward Biddle was the son-in-law of 
Nicholas Scull. 

We have supposed that Rebecca Marshall was the 
wife of Paul Overfield, who we know was a taxable 
in Lower Smithfield in 1761 to 1765. Mention is 
made in the will of her brother William Marshall, de- 
ceased, in Tinicum, in 1757, of a legacy left to his 
two nephews Abner and Benjamin Overfield. The 
former in 1774 is stated to. have two children under 
twenty-one and taxed for 130 acres of land with ten 
acres of grain, two horses, three cattle and ten sheep. 
The latter with one child under age, 80 acres of land, 
seven acres of grain, two horses, two cattle and seven 
sheep. The latter is mentioned in the census of 1790, 
as having in family eight persons, three being males. 
Paul Overfield, a smith, and probably a relative of 
the aforesaid, is also mentioned in 1774, as hax'ing 
eight children under twent\'-onc, 160 acres of land, 
seven in with grain, two horses, two cattle and se\'en 
sheep. In the census of 1790 we find also a William 
Overfield with a family of five, whereof three are fe- 
males. Pre\ious to 1775 these are all represented as 
living in Lower Smithfield, and in 1790 in Chestnut 



REMOVES TO NORTHAMITON COUNTY. 22 1 

Hill township, from which it had been formed. Sarah, 
the widow of Martin Overfield, was still living near 
Dingman's Ferr}- in 1845, aged ninety-one years, and 
was born in that section. William Overfield, her son, 
represented Monroe county in the Assembly fifty years 
ago. Conrad Overfield, of Monmouth county, served 
in the army during the Revolution. They appear to 
have been a numerous and respectable family in the 
Minisink region, and we cannot find, excepting Edward 
Marshall's wife, that any members thereof had been 
injured by the Indians. 



CHAPTER IV. 

INDIAN ATTACKS ON HIS I A.MILV. 

Indian hostilities began in this section Nov^ember 
24, 1755, by an attack on Gnadenhutten, a Moravian 
settlement situated on the east side of the Lehigh about 
twenty-eight miles northwest from Bethlehem, where 
eleven persons were killed. So vigorously did they 
prosecute the war in Northampton count}- that by Sep- 
tember, 1757, from a list made out by Capt. Jacob 
Orndt, one hundred and fourteen persons were killed 
and fifty-two taken prisoners,,of whom se\en afterwards 
returned. Among these sufferers in December, 1755, 
was the Weiser famih', and that of Edward Marshall 
in May, 1757, and in the following August. Accord- 
ing to John Hackett's list, made down to December 
19, 1755, upwards of fift\' persons had been killed and 
forty-one houses burnt in the county among a sparse 
and wide!)' scattered jjopulation w ithin so short a time 
as four weeks. 

A letter from hLaston, dated 25th of December, 1755, 
states that "the country all abo\e this town for fift}' 
miles is mosth' ewacuated and ruined, excej^ting only 
the neighborhood of Dupue's five families which stand 
their ground. The people have chiefl)' fled into Jer- 
sev. Man\' of them haxe threshed out their corn, and 



INDIAN ATTACKS ON HIS FAMILY. 223 

carried it off with their cattle and best household goods, 
but a vast deal is left to the enemy; many offered half 
their corn, horses, cows, goods, &c., to save the rest, 
but could not obtain assistance enough to remove them 
in time. The enemy made but few prisoners, murder- 
ing almost all that fell in their hands, of all ages and 
both sexes. AIL business is at an end, and the few re- 
maining starving inhabitants in this town are quite de- 
jected and dispirited. Captains Ashton and Trump 
march up to Dupue's this day, and are to build two 
block houses for defence of the country between that 
settlement and Gnadenhutten, which when finished, 
the inhabitants that are fled say that they will return." 

Another writer, under date of December 31, says 
that " Indians known to be principally from Susque- 
hanna have during this month been making incursions 
into the county of Northampton, where they have al- 
ready burnt fifty houses, murdered above one hun- 
dred persons and are still continuing their ravages, 
murders and devastations, and have actually overrun 
and laid waste a great part of the country even as far 
as within twenty miles of Easton its chief town, and 
for the more ea.sy annoyance of our inhabitants and 
the better security of their prisoners and plunder these 
Indians have fixed their headquarters at Neskopeck, 
which is not thirty miles from the inhabitants." 

From Franklin's paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, of 
January 8, 1756, we learn that "The Quakers of this 
city have made considerable contributions for the re- 
lief of our frontier inhabitants, who have been lately 



224 '•"'- ^^^' l^l'WARl) MARSIIALI,. 

driven from their settlements, and plundered of every- 
thing, by the savage cruelt)- of the Indians. And we 
hear from Bucks county, that some of the society there 
are collecting a quantity of corn, and other necessaries, 
for the like purpose. The calamitous circumstances 
of these unhap])y people are much aggraxated b\' the 
most horrid murders being committed on their nearest 
and dearest relations and friends, and by the present 
inclemency of the season. Wherefore it is to be hoped 
the example will become general, and that every one 
will assist according to his ability, in alleviating the 
distresses of his fellow subjects." 

This state of affairs actually continued with but little 
intermission until into 1764, a period of over eight 
years, during which time scenes of the most atrocious 
character were enacted, as if each side endeavored to 
excel the other in cruelty, it appearing on the part of 
the Delaware and Shawanese Indians as their last and 
most determined efforts to secure the lands out of 
which they belie\ed they had been unjustly defrauded 
by the proprietaries, and which records establish were 
conveyed unto William Allen as earl\- as No\-ember 
16, 1727, and from which afterwards forcibly dispos- 
sessed through a conni\ance with the powerful Iro- 
quois. 

After the Indian hostilities had fairh' commenced, 
some time in the latter part of 1755, or in the follow- 
ing year, as a matter of security Kdward Marshall re- 
moved his famih' into New Jersey where they re- 
mained until the spring of 1757. when apprehending 



INDIAN ATTACKS ON HIS FAMILY. 2 25 

the greatest danger over he returned to his former 
residence below Jacobus creek. Somewhere about 
the 23d or 25th of May in company with Matthew 
Hughes, a former neighbor of his in Tinicum, but now 
boarding with him, he went up the above named stream 
within three miles of the mountain to cut logs and 
while thus engaged a company of sixteen Indians at- 
tacked the house. One of them threw his match coat 
on a bee hive by the side of the garden, which caused 
the bees to rush out to sting them, which fortunately 
by arresting their attention enabled five of the young- 
est children to get off and conceal themselves among 
the bushes. The eldest daughter Catharine, aged about 
fourteen, was shot at in running; the ball entered her 
right shoulder and came out below her left breast, 
but she ran on and hid herself in a stream of water 
by which she staunched the flow of blood and eluded 
their search. They took no property but a coat be- 
longing to Matthew Hughes, in the pocket of which 
was £t, in money. Mrs. Marshall they made a prisoner 
and at once proceeded northwards. Being within a 
month of becoming a mother and not able to travel 
fast enough, when they reached the mountain they 
killed and then scalped her. 

From Captain Van Etten's Journal of the following 
23d of June, we learn that a party of thirteen men 
from Jersey were making a search for the remains of 
Mrs. Marshall which had not yet been found. Some 
accounts say that they were not discovered for above 
six months afterwards. It is a family tradition that 



2 26 LIFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

when found word was sent to the husband to \-isit 
them for identification. He readily satisfied himself 
by a peculiarly formed tooth and the dress she wore 
which was but little decayed. On examination the 
scull and breast bore evidences of the tomahawk and 
the remains of twins were discovered. Judge of the 
feelings of any man when placed under such circum- 
stances. Edward Marshall had nine children living 
with this wife, of which se\eral of the oldest ma\- have 
been with him from home when the attack was made. 
Their names were Peter, William, Moses, Martin, Cath- 
arine, Elizabeth, Jemima, Naomi and Amy. The 
papers of the Friendly Association state that the In- 
dians in going and returning on this expedition did 
no other mischief within eight miles of his house. 

The second attack was made in August of the same 
year, by which his eldest son Peter Marshall was killed, 
but accounts of which greatly vary. One tradition is 
that he was shot whilst engaged in covering a stack. 
Another, that with others he had sought the protection 
of a fort, and without their knowledge the Indians 
had thrown down a fence and driven the cattle into a 
field of corn, which on being observed five young 
men rushed forth to them to turn them out and in so 
doing were fired at in ambush, killing two of the num- 
ber, one being Peter Marshall. We are inclined to 
believe the first account the most probable. The date 
we are only enabled to fix from written evidence that 
proves that he was alive at least in the previous month. 
In either event we are informed that Edward Marshall 



INDIAN ATTACKS ON HIS FAMILY. 2 2/ 

was not present or the rest of the family injured. We 
must remember that when so many murders were 
committed that the circumstances became in time con- 
founded with each other, hence the habihty to such 
discrepancies unless immediately written down. 

Sometime in the latter part of 1758, Edward Mar- 
shall was married to Elizabeth, the daughter of Nich- 
olas Wiser, who was now in her thirtieth year. Her 
father was a native of Nieuwied on the Rhine and in 
1748 he purchased by patent a tract of land contain- 
ing 133 acres situated in Chestnut Hill township, about 
five miles north of the Wind Gap, on which he made 
the first improvements. As is not unusual with Ger- 
man immigrants, he appears to have flourished here 
until the beginning of the war, when he became one 
of its early victims. Mutual sympathy in part must 
have aided to draw Edward Marshall and his bride 
together. He had lost a wife and son and she had lost 
her father by the Indians, and also witnessed the de- 
struction of his property by the devouring flames. 
This relationship induces us to give an account of the 
affair as taken down from her brother Leonard imme- 
diately on his return from captivity in the following 
summer. 

His father resided on the north side of the Moun- 
tain and on the 31st of Dec, 1755, he was attacked by a 
body of thirty Indians, taking him and his brother W^il- 
liam prisoners. After being pinioned they proceeded 
onwards until night. The next day they were left under 
the care of fi\'e Indians who went towards the Sus- 



228 LIFE OF FDWARI) MARSHAIJ,. 

quehanna, and the rest returned for further deeds of 
\'iolence. After several weeks the other Indians re- 
turned with more captives, taken in the neii^hborhood 
where they had hved. They now all went up the 
river in canoes to Tioga and from thence up the Cayuga 
Brancli about two hundred miles, where they lix^ed in 
scattered parties. The prisoners were as well used as 
could be expected, living as the Indians did, only that 
thev were obliged to do their servile work. Sometime 
in the spring while Tedy uscung was twenty miles above 
Tioga, two Mingo or Iroquois Indians came on a 
message from their nation, stating that if they did not 
desist from their hostilities against the English the\- 
would come and destroy them and all the Indians on 
the Susquehanna river. Owing to this circumstance 
he with his brother and two other captives were brought 
to Fort Allen and released through presents given to 
the captors. 

On the following 17th of Januar}-, John Adam Huth, 
in company with several others, proceeded beyond the 
Blue Mountain, and when they came to the late resi- 
dence of Nicholas Weiser all was found in ashes, and 
the cows, sheep and hogs lying dead around the place. 
Besides Mrs. Marshall and the two mentioned there 
were two more sons, Frederick and Nicholas. The 
latter afterwards moved to Montgomer\- count}', New 
York, where he was still residing in 1792, when he 
sold the homestead to Jacob Stroud. Leonard Weiser, 
in I 761, resided in Lower .SmithfieJd, and in the sum- 
mer of 1763 joined Capt. John Van Campen's company 



INDIAN ATTACKS ON HIS FAMILY. 229 

to resist further Indian incursions into Northampton 
county. The effects of these ravages had been such 
that on an enumeration made in 1758, there were as- 
certained to be only thirty-five horses and nine wagons 
remaining in Mount Bethel township, the home of 
Edward Marshall. 



CHAPTER V. 

BOUNTIES FOR DESTROYING INDIANS. 

After these several attacks by the Indians on the 
famih'and relations of Edward Marshall, and perchance 
his own very fortunate escape therefrom, the question 
arises whether any efforts were made on his part to 
retaliate or resist their further incursions and ravages? 
On no subject connected with the life of this indi\idual 
have we felt more disposed to exercise caution from 
the very nature of its seriousness. Back even into the 
clays of our boyhood, and not many miles from his 
island home, we had heard of numerous traditions still 
lingering of the merciless revenge he sought and found 
in the wanton destruction of the savages. As years 
rolled on and we had attained manhood and the experi- 
ence of an author, it gleamed on us that the biography 
of the hero of the famous Indian Walk was deserving 
a record. This now brought us more in contact with 
his numerous descendants. We were surprised in our 
inquiries that they seemed to have faith in the truth of 
the traditions that he had sought and found retaliation 
during the Indian war \vhilst a resident of Northamp- 
ton county, or in New Jersey, opposite. From the ex- 
cellent character that he, his brothers and the family 
always have borne among their neighbors and acquaint- 



BOUNTIES FOR DESTROYING INDIANS. 23 1 

ances, it is right that we should seek some palHation 
therefor in this chapter. 

As far as Pennsylvania was concerned, the earliest 
information, or rather suggestion, on this matter that 
we have found, is in a letter from Edward Shippen, 
dated Lancaster, December 16, 1755, and addressed to 
Wm. Allen, Chief Justice of the Province: "There is 
one James Patterson," he writes, "who lives about fifty 
miles from Harris' on Juniata where he has built a stock- 
ade fort and has twenty men with him, which has been 
the only means of protecting the settlers and to keep 
them on their plantations. He is a courageous, reso- 
lute fellow and is resolved to stand his ground, if he 
can be encouraged with a few arms and some ammu- 
nition. He wants very much to know whether any 
handsome premiums is offered for scalps, because if 
there is he is sure his force will soon be augmented." 

William Peters wrote from Philadelphia, January 4, 
1756, to Thomas Penn, that it is "the wish of almost 
every body here that notwithstanding your most gen- 
erous presents and the large sum granted for defending 
the country and driving off the Indians, little good 
will be done without giving handsome rewards for 
scalps. And to set the example a subscription has 
been handed about in the Coffee House to encourage 
the bringing in the heads of these two villains Shingas 
and Captain Jacobs. The two Delaware chiefs who have 
been so remarkably carressed by us are said to have 
the principal hand in drawing off the other Delawares 
and Shawanese. Seven hundred dollars were presently 



232 LIKE OF EDWARD MAKSIIAl.E. 

subscribed and this with the Governor's approbation 
pubHshed in our newspapers. The Governor and 
Commissioners being also convinced of its necessit\% 
it is expected that as soon as they have settled with 
our friendly Indians, if any come to the treaty, the 
mode of doing it so that a proper distinction may be 
made between the enemy Indians and those who are 
or may be inclined to be our friends. The Governor 
will then immediately issue a Proclamation for offering 
proper rewards for Indian scalps." On the following 
7th, he writes: "Since the encouragement proposed to 
be given for scalping and the Governor and Commis- 
sioner's tour amongst the people in the back counties, 
their spirits seem to revive, and several companies, 
chiefly composed of those who have been used to deer 
hunting and are good marksmen, have voluntariK' of- 
fered themselves and some of them actually gone and 
others going against the Indians." 

On the 1 2th of January, Dr. Franklin, as Colonel of 
a Pennsylvania regiment, issued an order to Capt. John 
Van Patten, of Upper Smithfield, Northampton county, 
wherein 'he says: "You are to acquaint the men that 
if in their ranging they meet with, or are at any time 
attacked by the enemy, and kill an\- of them, forty 
dollars will be allowed and paid by the government 
for each scalp of an Indian enemy so killed, the same 
being produced, properly attested." The Rev. Rich- 
ard Peters, in a letter to Thomas Penn, dated -Philadel- 
phia, February 17th, uses this strong language: "The 
general voice of the people cries aloud for a Proclama- 



BOUNTIES FOR DESTROYING INDIANS. 



•^J3 



tion offering rewards for Indian scalps, and most are 
of opinion that this will effectually engage numbers to 
range and lie in the woods and surprise the Iifdians in 
the same manner that they do our miserable people." 

"If I was so happy," writes Conrad Weiser, Feb. 
28th, to Thomas Penn, "as to have two or three hours' 
conversation with you or with your Honor's brother, 
Mr. Richard Penn, I flatter myself several things in 
this Province would soon alter for the better, especially 
Indian affairs. I fear that rudeness, lawlessness and 
ignorance of the back inhabitants not only of this 
but also of the neighboring Provinces will bring a 
general Indian war over us. They curse and dam 
the Indians and call them murdering dogs into their 
faces without distfnction, when on the other hand these 
poor Indians that are still our friends do not know 
where to go for safety ; in the woods they are in dan- 
ger of being killed, or their young men joining our 
enemy. Among us they are in danger of being killed 
by the mob, and what is pityful, we have little or no 
government within our doors." 

Thomas Penn wrote in reply to William Peters, 
July 7th : " I wish," he says, " our people had been will- 
ing to join in companies to destroy them and bring in 
their wives and children, rather than money should 
be publicly offered for scalps, which is much dis- 
liked here, and in some of the French pieces lately pub- 
lished we are reproached with it as a cruel and un- 
christian-like practice. It certainly encourages base 
private murders and should therefore be practiced only 



234 l'Il""I'- <*I'" 'EDWARD MARSH Al. I,. 

in very particular cases, and I fear for the reward some 
people may trespass beyond their bounds." The same 
to Governor Hamilton, three days later: "When you 
wrote me last, you regretted you were not at liberty 
to declare war against the Delaware Indians, that you 
might attack them in their towns. This inconvenience 
is since removed, and I wish people enlisted in pay 
could have been found to go in small parties and attack 
them, making prisoners of their wives and children, 
as a means to oblige them to sue for peace, rather than 
rewards should be offered for scalps, especially of the 
women as it encourages private murder." 

As may be supposed the result of this was a proc- 
lamation by Gov. Robert Hunter Morris at Philadel- 
phia, April 14, 1756, from which we make this ex- 
tract: "I have therefore by and with the advice and 
consent of the Council, thought fit to issue this Proc- 
lamation, and do hereby declare the said Delaware 
Indians and all others, who in conjunction with them 
have committed hostilities against his Majesty's sub- 
jects within this Province, to be enemies, rebels and 
traitors to his most sacred Majesty. And I do here- 
by require all his Majesty's subjects of this Province, 
and earnestly invite those of the neighboring Provinces 
to embrace all opportunities of pursuing, taking, kill- 
ing and destroying the said Delaware, and all others 
confederated with them in committing hostilities, in- 
cursions, murders or ravages upon this Province." In 
consequence the following offers were made: for every 
male Indian enenn- abo\e twcl\-e )'ears old taken pris- 



BOUNTIES FOR DESTROYING INDIANS. 235 

oner 150 Spanish dollars; for the scalp of every male 
Indian enemy above the foregoing age and killed 138 
Spanish dollars ; for every female Indian taken pris- 
oner under the age of twelve 138 Spanish dollars, and 
the same for male ; for the scalp of every Indian 
woman killed 50 Spanish dollars. 

Richard Peters wrote to Thomas Penn, April 30th : 
"Two of the Six Nations and four or five of the 
friendly Delawares who went on Tuesday charged by 
the Governor with a message to the Susquehanna In- 
dians to certify to them what had passed between Col. 
Johnson and the Deputy of the Six Nations, returned 
from Obsaningo, and that they might not fall in the 
way of our people who were extremely incensed and be 
exposed to the scalping parties that might go out in 
hopes of gain for scalps, the Indians were desired to 
advise the Susquehanna Indians to keep a distance 
and await the issue of the proposals that might be 
agreed to by Col. Johnson." 

Notwithstanding a war of extermination had been 
carried on against the Indians for over eight and 
a half years, Gov. John Penn issued an additional 
proclamation, dated July 7, 1764, wherein he states 
that he does " declare the said Delaware and Shawa- 
nese Indians, and all others who in conjunction with 
them have committed hostilities, and I do hereby re- 
quire all his Majesty's subjects of this Province, to 
embrace all opportunities of pursuing, taking, killing and 
destroying the same and all others concerned in commit- 
ting hostilities, murders, or ravages upon this Province. 



236 LIFK OF KDWAKl) MARSHALL. 

And whereas it is necessary, for the better carryinjj^ 
on to a close, that the greatest encouragement should 
be given to all his Majesty's subjects to exert their ut- 
most endeavors to pursue, attack, take and destroy our 
said enemy Indians, that there shall be paid to all and 
every person and persons not in the pay of this Pro\- 
ince, the following several and respective premiums 
and bounties: That is to say for every male prisoner 
above ten years old 150 Spanish dollars, for every fe- 
male and male under age 130 Spanish dollars. For 
the scalp of every male above ten years 134 Span- 
ish dollars and female 50 Spanish dollars, and to 
all those as soldiers in the pay of this Prox^nce half 
this sum. To be paid on the delivery at any Fort 
garrisoned by the troops in the pay of this Province, 
or at any of the county towns by the keepers of the 
Common Gaols." 

He excepts from the foregoing the .Si.x Nations and 
some Delawares and Nanticokes who live in friend- 
ship and under the protection of the Government. 
The Governor who had now increased the bounties 
for the destruction of Indians was the grandson of 
Wm. Penn and before the arrival of the latter the 
Swedes had lived with the Indians in harmony for forty 
years. But in justice to Mr. Penn our historians have 
generally overlooked the fact that his proclamation 
on the subject had been preceded by a former one. 
\\ hen this became known in PVance the press and 
general opinion there was strongly against carrying 
on so barbarous a system of warfare and which to 



BOUNTIES FOR DESTROVINC: INDIANS. 237 

their great credit was not permitted, but who turned 
it to greater account by additionally stimulating 
their allies to greater exertions in resisting the further 
aggressions of the English. Among those famed " for 
searching for and killing the Reds" in Northampton 
county, and no doubt incited thereto by the rewards 
and encouragements thus offered, may be mentioned 
George La Bar, Ulrich Hauser and Tom Caspar. It 
may be well asked what has become of those Indian 
scalps, and the documents and records connected with 
this business? No information on this subject has 
yet been elicited to our knowledge. 

Edward Marshall is represented by his descendants 
as rather taciturn, or having very little to say respect- 
ing Indian exploits. One of the daughters of Martin 
Marshall informed us over thirty years ago that her 
father had said that on one occasion he had pressed 
him to relate his adventures with the Indians. After 
musing a few seconds, the only reply was, when he 
discovered an Indian he would shut one eye and they 
would not meet again. The stories generally circu- 
lated about him on these matters have been so ex- 
travagant that we have declined their use. However, 
we will briefly relate two of his adventures that under 
the circumstances seem plausible. While out hunt- 
ing during the war he unexpectedly met an armed 
Indian within one hundred and fifty feet of him. Both 
immediately took to trees and kept manoeuvering for 
each other's lives. After a long interval Marshall took 
off his hat, placed it on his ramrod and kept operating 



238 LIFE OF EDWARD MAUSIIAI.I., 

it now on one side the trunk of his tree and then the 
other. Soon a report followed and he dropped the hat to 
the ground. The Indian rushed forth w ith a yell, toma- 
hawk in hand, for his scalp, but when within thirty 
feet he aimed, shot and killed him. On another oc- 
casion a somewhat similar occurrence happened. 
After being behind their respective trees for some in- 
terval, Marshall shouted out a proposal for relieving 
themselves; that instead they would shoot at some 
mark and offered to shoot first. The Indian approved 
it and arranged for the mark, which was to be about 
half way between them and some fifteen yards to one 
side. Marshall said he was ready but to prevent dis- 
pute must distinctly understand what mark. The In- 
dian hereby lost his caution by projecting himself to 
indicate it when Marshall shot and he dropped to the 
ground. 



CHAPTER VI. 

RETURN TO BUCKS COUNTY. 

In consequence of the several attacks made by the 
Indians on the family of P^dward Marshall, and the 
distress and loss occasioned thereby, his brother Wil- 
liam, of Tinicum, being in a languishing condition, and 
having no children, kindly remembered him in his will, 
made on the 1 8th of August, 1757, and but a few weeks 
before his death. He first requires therein that his 
wife Ann shall have the full use and benefit of all his 
estate for three years, and next states: "I give unto 
my beloved brother Edward Marshall after the term 
aforesaid all my estate, right, title and interest of, in 
and to my leased lands and the Island in the Delaware 
called Tinicum Island, together with all and every the 
buildings and improvements to the said Land and Isl- 
and belonging. Provided, that my said brother pay to 
his four sons, Peter, William, Moses and Martin, the 
sum of Fifty pounds like money aforesaid and a piece 
as they come to the age of twenty-one years." It was 
thus through the gift and remembrance of a brother 
after his recent misfortune that Edward came in pos- 
session of his island home, and to be retained and oc- 
cupied by him to the close of his life, or for nearly the 
third of a century. 



240 l.IFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

Of Edward Marshall's return to Bucks county with 
his family we are not able to a certainty to fix the date. 
His crranddaughter, Eliza Kean, informed us that his 
sons Peter and Thomas, the first children by his sec- 
ond wife, were born in Tinicum, which would fix the 
date about 1759. The latter, from a family record, 
was born January 19, I76i,and survived until 1831. 
Farming, with hunting and fishing, chiefly engrossed 
his attention. With the commencement of the Revo- 
lution he must have been aged about sixty years, and 
consequently no longer the hale and active or vigorous 
man of his prime. He heartily concurred in the Inde- 
pendence of his country, and we find that he gave in 
his allegiance before his neighbor, Nicholas Patterson, 
a Justice of the Peace, November 30, 1777, and his son 
Moses the following 21st of July. For the use of 
Washington's army, and to prevent their getting into 
the hands of the British, or assist their crossing into 
Penn.sylvania, all the boats, flats and scows were col- 
lected up to his island. William and Moses, his eldest 
sons, went with their boats, which had also been pressed 
into the service, to render their aid in ferrying as well 
as securing all boats to the west bank of the Delaware 
until the danger of invasion from the Jersey side should 
be over. This was particularly the state of affairs to- 
wards the close 1776 and the beginning of 1777. In- 
deed the British had made a forced march in the night 
near the beginning of December to Coryell's Ferry 
with this particular object in view, but found them- 
selves disa})pointed and marched back to Pennytown. 



RETURN TO BUCKS COUNTY. 24 1 

As publislied in Watson's Annals: "In the revolu- 
tionary war, the Indians again returned from west of 
the Ohio into Tinicum, still aiming at Marshall, and 
he again escaped by being from home ; they then went 
back through Jersey." We made minute inquiries into 
this matter about forty years ago among some four or 
five of his grandchildren, who were born and resided 
all their days in that vicinity, as well as about a dozen 
of his later descendants, and they all emphatically 
deny this statement, that any efforts prompted by a 
spirit of revenge had ever been made with any hostile 
intent whilst he resided here. Had such an expedi- 
tion been made it would have been doubtful if it would 
have arrived safely through so thickl)' a settled country. 

Samuel Preston relates in a communication written 
in 1826, that in 1782 and the following year he had 
formed his first acquaintance with Edward Marshall. 
Having been called on as a sur\'eyor to settle some 
old lines in Tinicum and Nockamixon townships he 
required his assistance to show him the boundaries. 
"To me," he says, "he appeared a respectable old man 
of good memory and fair standing as to veracity, in 
his testimony respecting lines and corners. He was a 
native of Bucks county, and a large, heavy-set, strong- 
boned man. He was then living on his large Island, 
had been a noted hunter and chain carrier for Nicholas 
Scull. He gave me a statement of his great Walk 
in which he was fully determined to beat or die in the 
attempt." 



242 I.IFK OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

Almost to his last l£d\vard Marshall retained his 
physical powers but little impaired by age. Laboring 
under the effects of a severe cold with a short attack 
of influenza brought about his death November 7, 
1789, aged according to his own account seventy-four 
years. His granddaughter Eliza Kean informed us 
that his tombstone was not put up until about 1829 
and that the inscription thereon was written by his 
son Thomas, one of the administrators, which makes 
him five years older, and in the absence of any written 
record he may have been led into error. He died 
on his Island and for greater convenience his bod\- 
was conveyed to the house of his son Martin Mar- 
shall, living opposite on the river road and a few yards 
below the mouth of Tinicum creek, where the funeral 
was held, on which occasion the Rev. Nicholas Cox, 
a Baptist clergyman, delivered a discourse to a large 
assemblage. He was buried in the Marshall family 
burying ground, about one and a half miles distant. 
His grave at the present time is located a few yards 
west of its centre, over which a white marble .stone is 
erected about three and a half feet high containing 
this inscription: "In memory of Edward Marshall, 
Sr., who died November 7th, 1789, aged 79 years. 

Unveil thy bosom faithful tomb 
And give these sacred relics room, 
Take this frail treasure to thy breast 
To slumber in tliy silent dust." 

The house in which the funeral was held is still 
standing, being a large substantial two-story stone 



RETURN TO BUCKS COUNTY. 243 

edifice said to have been finished but a few days be- 
fore this occasion, which its appearance would indicate. 
It has long been in possession of Sarah, wife of David 
Spear, who is a daughter of the said Martin Marshall, 
to which is attached a farm of fifty acres. She had 
previously been married to Samuel Weisel, deceased. 
This property she received by inheritance. 

At his death Edward Marshall left fourteen sur- 
viving children, six sons and eight daughters, hence 
we need not wonder at his having numerous descend- 
ants. These were William, Moses, Martin, Catharine 
married to William Ridge, Elizabeth to Immanuel Pid- 
cock, Jemima, deceased, to Nathan Allen, but leaving 
children, Naomi to William McCalla, Amy to Thomas 
Tillyer, Peter, Thomas, Edward, Mary, Anne, Sarah 
and Rebecca. Of these and their descendants we will 
have more to say hereafter. His estate was settled 
by Thomas Marshall and Thomas Tillyer and an ap- 
praisement made of his personal property by Nicholas 
Wyker and John Neis on the following 23d of De- 
cember, amounting to £74.9, is, gd. In this was em- 
braced wearing apparel, cash and bonds £l7g, i8.y, 
\od; 300 bushels of corn in the ears and a mare and 
colt £2>2 ; wheat. and rye and a field of grain ^^"94. 
1 3 cattle, 22 sheep, 13 hogs £44,^5 ; wagon and gears, 
3 cider barrels, cutting box, 4 spinning wheels, 6 bed- 
steads and bedding, carpenter tools, 2 guns, 2 plows, i 
boat, 2 canoes, a flat, etc. His real estate, besides the 
island of 128 acres and improvements, consisted of a 
plantation of 212 acres, which he had purchased May 



2 44 LIFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

8, 1 787, of Rachel Stewart and son Robert, situated on 
both sides of Tinicum creek and approaching' within 
less than a mile of the island and adjoinin^j his other 
land on the south. 

We estimate that the total value of Edward Mar- 
shall's real and personal estate at the time of his de- 
cease was very nearly ^10,000, certainly a handsome 
sum for this period. With all his proclivities for hunt- 
ing, gunning, fishing and adventure, he was yet so 
good a business manager, that from his first starting 
out for himself until the close of his life financial dis- 
tress was a matter unknown to him. Hence we do 
not wonder at the independent spirit of his character. 
From the records of Northampton county we have 
ascertained that Elizabeth Marshall, the widow, was 
still residing in Tinicum township, February 6, 1792, 
when she conveyed for i^ioo all her right and title 
unto her brother Nicholas Weiser of Cherry Valley, 
New York, in the family homestead of 133 acres of 
land in Chestnut Hill township, which the latter sold 
a few weeks thereafter to Col. Jacob Stroud, of Strouds- 
burg. She afterwards removed to the residence of 
her daughter Rebecca, married to Neal Kean, a short 
distance below Frenchtown, where she died October 
12, 1807, aged nearly 80 years. A stone with an in- 
scription denotes her burial place beside the remains 
of her husband in the family graveyard. 

William Marshall, the eldest brother of F:dward, 
died in Tinicum, some time in September, 1757. In 
his will, dated the i8th of August previous, he leaves 



RETURN TO BUCKS COLINTV. 245 

his wife Ann the full benefit of all his estate for three 
years, after which she is to have, in lieu of any dower, 
all his best furniture and table ware, the " Negro wench 
named Mooney," his mare and iJ^200 in money. To 
his brother he leaves all his leased lands and the island 
in the Delaware river called Tinicum, with all the 
buildings and improvements thereon, providing that 
he pay to his sons Peter, William, Moses and Martin 
£^0 apiece as they come to the age of twenty-one 
years; to his brother John Marshall ^^31, and his 
sister Rebecca's two sons Abraham and Benjamin 
Ov^erfelt ^20 each. His watch he leaves to his brother 
Moses, after which the residue shall be equally divid- 
ed between his brother John and the aforesaid men- 
tioned nephews. John Watson, the well-known sur- 
veyor of Buckingham, was appointed his executor. 
In the inventory of his effects as appraised by Wil- 
liam Nash and John Russell we find mention made 
of "a negro man named Jim" valued at ^35, the 
" molatto wench Mooney" ^^30, 16 head of cattle, 10 
horses, 27 sheep, 27 swine, wagon, 3 guns, wolf trap, 
boat, 2 canoes and a flat ; the whole of the personal 
amounting to ^^558, 5^, 6d. This would indicate for 
the times a productive farm of some size. 

Moses Marshall, the second brother of Edward, is 
said to have been a gunsmith by occupation and that 
he followed this business to some extent in Tinicum. 
We infer that he died in 1773, for Sarah, his widow, 
it appears from a petition to the Court of Quarter Ses- 
sions for Northampton county, dated June 21, 1775, had 



246 IJFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

moved up there, and which states that Jacob Wood, of 
Mount Bethel township, as administrator of her hus- 
band's estate, was required on account of an error of 
^84 to resettle the same. In the assessment of Tini- 
cum township for 1 779, we find his estate taxed for £"] 1 , 
95 on 236 acres of land, 3 horses and 3 cattle, the 
business probably beintj carried on by Thomas Tillyer, 
"a single man," until at least to 1783. His son Jonas 
Marshall and wife Hannah had moved in 1775 to 
Surry county, North Carolina, and the following year 
sold their place of 15 acres and "the Moses Marshall 
Island" of 45 acres in the Delaware to William Ridge 
for ^200. We thus perceive that the Marshalls were 
successful business men of property, quite so for the 
period, when we come to consider the limited means 
of so new a country. 



CHAPTER VII. 

FAMILY REMINISCENCES AND TRADITIONS. 

Edward Marshall is represented as having been a 
tall, muscular and stoutly built man. He was at least 
six feet one inch in height, and by some he is men- 
tioned as having been even two or three inches taller. 
He was never regarded as a fluent talker and had but 
little to say on the most familiar subjects. He retain- 
ed to the close of his life a fondness for smoking the 
pipe. As a neighbor he w^as popular and we have not 
been enabled to learn of any reflections regarding his 
character. As respects the advantages of school learn- 
ing they must have been limited. We cannot find 
that himself or his brothers or second wife and sons 
William and Moses could write their names, merely 
making their initials or marks therefor. They could 
read and make ordinary calculations and little more. 
We must remember that in a country so new and 
sparsely settled the means of acquiring an education 
was not very readily secured, yet we find through their 
good sense and native shrewdness that the Marshalls 
were good and successful business men, proving that 
they were possessed of no mean intellectual abilities 
however neglected in early life. 



248 I.IKK OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

Concerning" the reward that he may have received 
for performing the Walk much has been said and writ- 
ten of a contradictory nature. We have given this 
matter sufficient attention to form thereon an opinion. 
In the Penn Accounts for Indian charges under date 
of 3d of 7th-month, 1735, mention is made of having 
" Paid Timothy Smith for the three persons that walked 
out the Indian Purchase in Bucks county iJ"i5." This 
was for the Trial or Experimental Walk kept secret 
from the Indians and which would be i^5 apiece. In 
the said charges for October 5, 1737, we find "To 
cash paid T. Smith for ye men who travelled ye Pur- 
chase ^10, T,s, gd." This would denote that it had been 
paid to Mr. Smith for the walkers about two weeks 
after the occurrence, with perhaps no allowance to 
Solomon Jennings for non-performance. Joseph Smith, 
of Tinicum, whose father was a nephew of the said 
sheriff Timothy Smith, stated, in a communication in 
1 826, that the aforesaid had in addition to the ^"5 offer- 
ed a reward of 500 acres of land within said purchase 
to the one that should walk the furthest in eighteen 
hours. In the papers of the Friendly Association 
used at the Treaty at Easton in 1757, we find this in- 
formation : " Marshall, on applying to the Proprietaries 
for a reward, was offered five pounds, wliich he rejected 
with contempt and has never had any reward." This 
corroborates exactly what has always been attributed 
to Marshall and confirmed by his descendants, of his 
refusing anything short of the reward that had been 
publicly offered and afterwards withlield by the Pro- 



FAMILY REMINISCENCES. 249 

prietaries. However, he lived to see them lose "Our 
Province of Pennsylvania," and the country and him- 
self in the end were the better for it. Revolution with 
retribution had come and the Marshalls were forever 
rid of quit-rents or holding any longer leased lands. 

In connection with the Walk there is a family tradi- 
tion that Edward stated that when he had finished the 
one and a half day's Walk at the Five Chestnut Oaks 
with a hatchet he cut a small chip from out of one of 
those trees for identity and brought it away with him 
to retain in evidence should it be required in the future 
the distance he may have traveled. 

Samuel Preston, in a letter to John F. Watson in 
1 828, states that Edward Marshall showed him a pocket 
compass which had been given to him to use through 
the woods near the termination of the Walk and his 
retaining it was all the compensation he had received 
for that undertaking. As his using a compass has 
been denied by the Proprietary party, we give from 
Timothy Smith's evidence this extract: "Kept on old 
Indian path till they came to a place called Pocko- 
poghkunck ; that from thence they proceeded through 
the woods by a compass which was carried by Ben- 
jamin Eastburn or Nicholas Scull and then stopped 
at the top of the mountain where they marked five 
chestnut oaks as the end of the said one and a half 
day's walk." Respecting it Edward Marshall says that 
from Pockopoghkunck continued the walk "through 
the woods north-northwest by a compass, which 
this affirmant carried in his hand, but had not used 



250 LIFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

before, and pursuing that course or bearing hard all 
the time and the said Vates having given out and stay- 
ed at Tobyhanna creek, this affirmant continued the 
walk in company with Alexander Brown who carried 
the watch." Respecting this matter in the report b}" 
the Council they say "we examined particularly Mar- 
shall who says he carried a compass at the time, be- 
sides his being contradicted in that circumstance, we 
think it very improbable he should, as it must have 
retarded his walking if he stopped frequently to make 
any use of it, that he could not possibly walk so far 
in the eighteen hours as he says in his deposition." 
Here is an evident attempt at misconstruction, its use 
being only requisite near its termination when they 
had got beyond all the paths or routes that had been 
previously opened to travel over, and as the result 
indicates had extended further than those in the Pro- 
prietary interests had anticipated. On inquiry as to 
the whereabouts of this compass we were informed by 
Dr. James Ridge, of Camden, N. J., a great-grandson, 
that about forty-five years ago a member of the family 
had accidentally dropped it in crossing the Delaware 
and it was thus unfortunately lost. 

His descendants relate that after his return to Tini- 
cum he was in the practice late in the fall of going up 
in the Beech woods hunting, for weeks, when he would 
embrace the occasion to visit his numerous relatives 
there, as the Marshalls, Overfields, Weisersand others. 
Whilst up there on one occasion he observed across 
a \'alley a herd of se\en deer; at the foremost, a noble 



FAMILY REMINISCENCES. 25 I 

buck, he aimed with his rifle. The bullet took effect 
at the root of the horn of a younger animal in the rear, 
who dropped to the ground. In arriving there the 
distance seemed so great that he concluded to satisfy 
himself by stepping it off, and made it a trifle over 
400 yards or about a quarter of a mile. However, it 
must be remembered that this was over the surface of 
the ground, the valley intervening. His friends up 
there would relate of his saying on his return from 
hunting, that if they were short of venision to go 
to a certain place on a small tree or sapling, where a 
saddle would be suspended. It is said that numbers 
of poor families would go on such missions to their 
surprise at his suggestion. In one of these adven- 
tures he came to a bluff overlooking a deep narrow 
glen through which flowed a small stream. A slight 
noise there among the leaves attracted his attention, 
when to his surprise he observed it occasioned by a 
half grown panther, performing all the antics of a play- 
ful kitten. The longer he stayed there witnessing so 
singular a scene from its supposed savage nature the 
more its novelty impres.sed him. As a consequence 
he came away leaving it unharmed. 

As Samuel Preston had stated that Edward Mar- 
shall had found a silver mine in the vicinity of his 
island and retained it a secret, we concluded to make 
some inquiry on the subject. His granddaughter, Mrs. 
Sarah Spear, informed us in May, 1873, that there had 
been such a report and its location placed along the 
hill sides of Tinicum creek and within less than a mile 



252 LIFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

of its mouth. While havin^^ no knowledge of the 
tradition WiUiam Ridge stated that ore had been found 
there which on an analysis was found to contain silver. 
The existence of lead, silver and gold in this imme- 
diate vicinity has actually been mentioned by Linds- 
trom, the Royal Swedish engineer, and also by Robert 
Evelyn in 1648. The location was placed in "stony 
hills" along the Delaware about thirty miles above 
the first falls. It was prudent to keep such discoveries 
secret, for under the Colonial rule the charters re- 
quired from all the workers thereof three-fifths to tJie 
King and Proprietary, and this excessive tax was st>'led 
by William Penn an "encouragement ofsuchasare 
ingenious and willing to search out gold and silver 
mines in this Province." 

In company with our antiquarian friends Joseph D. 
Armitage and Cyrus Livezy of Lumberville, we visited 
the Marshall graveyard September 24, 1 87 1 . It is situ- 
ated on the south side of a hill about half a mile north 
of Tinicum creek, comprising a quarter of an acre en- 
closed by a substantial stone wall. The principal 
names on the stones containing the inscriptions are 
Marshall, Wood, Tillyer, Meyers, Ott and Mclntyre. 
In the older portion a number of graves are denoted 
by common stones. Besides Edward Marshall and 
wife, some of his children, grandchildren and niniierous 
relations repose here, of whom we shall have more to 
say. It is a family tradition that this site came to be 
selected under the following circumstances: That when 
two young women of the Marshall family were taking 



FAMILY REMINISCENCES. 253 

a stroll here, one of them expressed a wish that on 
her death she be buried at this spot as an appropriate 
place. Within a few weeks she was accidentally drowned 
and this proved in consequence the first corpse interred 
here. This must have occurred sometime before 1757, 
or more than a century and a quarter ago, and they 
may have been the daughters of William or Moses Mar- 
shall, brothers of Edward. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Marshall's island. 

We know, from tlie will of \Vm. Marshall, made in 
1 75 7, that the original name of this island was Tinecong 
or Tineconk, and that the stream emptying opposite as 
well as the township thus received the appellation. Its 
signification in the Delaware language was an island 
covered with woods, and has with time become changed 
into Tinicum. We have been unable in the records 
to trace back its earlier title, and, as has been .stated, 
it came into the possession of Edward Marshall through 
his brother's legacy. The Commissioners of Pennsyl- 
vania and New Jersey, in 1786, confirmed to Tinicum 
township "Prall's two islands, Wall's island, Resolu- 
tion island, Marshall's island, Wall's two islands. Fish- 
ing island and Pennington's island." On the large 
Township Map of Pennsylvania by Reading Howell, 
published in 1792, "Marshall's Island" is represented 
lying opposite the mouth of Tinicum creek, with a 
house on it a little north of its centre. A road is rep- 
resented as coming from "Irwin's" above to Tinicum 
creek, thence turning southwestwards to the Durham 
road. This island is correctly represented thereon as 
situated almost in the middle of the Delaware. 



MARSHALL S ISLAND. 255 

We would infer from said will that there were build- 
ings on this island in 1757, but whether Wm. Marshall 
resided thereon at that time we are unable to say. Ed- 
ward Marshall is mentioned as having resided here in 
a large two-story log house, which, from the size of 
his family, and the amount of his household furniture 
and fixtures mentioned in the inventory, would be 
deemed necessary. It would appear that some time 
after the death of Edward Marshall, a division of a 
portion of his real estate was made among his heirs, 
and that this island came into the possession of his son 
Martin, whom we know died before 1821, and was sold 
by his heirs April i, 1836, to Price Pursell, of Nock- 
amixon township, for ^2,942.85. By a survey then 
made it was found to contain eight perches less than 
one hundred and twenty-eight acres. About 1850 it 
was sold by John M. Pursell, trustee for Thomas Pur- 
sell, to Henry S. Stover, and by the latter, in 1858, to 
Hugh Capner, of Flemington, N. J., who deceased be- 
fore 1873. 

In company with Wm. Ridge, a great grandson of 
Edward Marshall, we visited this island May 18, 1873. 
It was one of those fine sunny spring days, tempered 
by a light breeze from the north. We crossed in a 
boat from Eichline's Hotel, which is nearly opposite 
its central part, and found by our journey there that 
the river was considerably wider than we had expected 
and possessed a strong current. At our landing we 
observed a very fine view looking north. The bridge 
at Frenchtown, spanning the Delaware two miles off, 



256 I.IFK OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

with the spires and houses of said place in sight, and 
beyond the long and high range of Musconetcong 
Hills towards the northeast at a distance of from fifteen 
to twenty miles, is still fresh in our recollection. Al- 
though Mr. Ridge did not reside three miles from here, 
he told us on this occasion that he had not been on 
this island before for twenty years. We first directed 
our steps to the house about forty yards from the land- 
ing, where we formed the acquaintance of the tenant, 
Howard Tettemer, who rented it on shares. Edward 
Marshall's house stood a few yards south of the pres- 
ent one, as did also his barn, from where it is now sit- 
uated. A few old apple trees yet remained of its orig- 
inal orchard, five or six of which were now over two 
feet in diameter. The extreme length of the island is 
above one and quarter miles, and its greatest width 
about a fourth of a mile, and it is now assessed as con- 
taining one hundred and sixteen acres, of which twenty 
are still in woodland. It is undoubtedly the largest 
island in the Delaware within a distance of thirty miles, 
either above or below it. We should suppose that the 
house stands about eighteen feet above the surface of 
the river at its ordinary height. In the great freshet 
of 1 841 three-fourths of the island was submerged with 
the water pretty near the buildings. Everything sent 
away or received here has to be ferried, for which pur- 
pose a scow or flat boat has to be kept. The tenant 
said the greatest objection he had to this was in trans- 
porting a loaded wagon with horses during high winds, 
which rendered it hazardous. The soil is sandy and 
does not appear to take well with grass. 



MARSHALL S ISLAND. 257 

In our strolls over its surface we were greatly im- 
pressed with the beauty of the surrounding scenery. 
The hills on the Pennsylvania and New Jersey sides 
generally rise into elevations of from thirty to one 
hundred and fifty feet above the Delaware. Tumble 
Falls is about a mile below, where rise perpendicular 
cliffs to upwards of one hundred feet in height, known 
as Warford's Rocks. The upper end of the island 
terminates in a point, where can be seen the effects of 
high floods in wearing away the soil. To our surprise 
on the shore here was lodged the trunk of a red maple 
over four feet in diameter and upwards of fifty feet in 
length that had been evidently brought hither from 
above during a freshet. Trees are still standing here 
of the original forest, consisting of chestnut, red and 
black oak, hickory, buttonwood, poplar, ash, paper 
birch, elm and linden. Some of these were above two 
feet in diameter. The whole island along its banks con- 
tains a fringe of trees about two rods in width, which 
is necessary for its protection from floods. Among 
these we observed several large and venerable chestnut 
trees. Both its upper and lower extremities indicate 
a considerable wearing away of its soil. Hence the 
importance of promoting the growth of trees. Among 
the most valuable for this purpose is the paper birch. 
The abundance of stone axes, pestles, spear heads and 
darts found would denote that here for a long period 
must have been a favorite abode or resort for the In- 
dians. Otters abound but are now becomins; rare. 



258 LIFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

One was captured here in 1842 b)' John Weisel, also 
a descendant of the famil}-. 

As we were about to leav^e the island on this our 
first and most probably last visit, a rush of recollections 
came thronging to us in connection with the long and 
last residence here of the famous pedestrian and hunter 
of whose like few examples can be found. On what 
his fame rests none now living can present experiences, 
for these have as irrecoxerabh' gone as the time itself 
We mean more particularly the Indians, the sway of 
the Penns, the deer, wolves and other game, and the 
associations connected therewith. In addition, we 
thought it was something to be brought here and have 
for our guide a descendant, a grandson too of his 
daughter Catharine,* who had so narrowly escaped a 
murderous assault from the savages. Now all was 
peaceful, and the bustling noise made on one side the 
river by the passing railroad train and the boatman's 
horn on the other betoken a change not known half a 
century ago; others even greater may soon follow. 
It is the duty of the historian or biographer to seize 
and collect these floating materials and prepare there- 
from some memorials, that all is not lost. By such 
aids posterity will be the better enabled to judge and 
compare the past with times existing and the changes 
effected thereb)-. 



*\Villiam Ridee died in Tinicum in iS86. 



CHAPTER IX. 

HIS DESCENDANTS. 

William Marshall, the second son of Edward, was 
born in 1737, or the following year. For expressing 
himself against the conduct of the Penns in relation to 
the Indians he was informed against at Easton, a few 
weeks after the death of his mother, by Daniel Broad- 
head and PZdward Biddle, though only about nineteen 
years of age, but with what result we are unable to 
state. He removed to Tinicum with his father and 
entered into farming. On the distribution of the pro- 
ceeds arising from his father's personal estate in 1 790, 
as the eldest surviving son under the existing law, he 
received a double share. With his brothers Martin 
and Edward the following year he purchased a farm 
of 100 acres for ^^"300 from Col. George Wall, situated 
at the mouth of Tinicum creek, where they made their 
residence. P^dward in 1800 sold his right in the farm 
for ^^170. William remained unmarried and made 
his home with Martin's famil)' until in the spring of 
1823. when he died, aged 85 years. His will bears 
the date of September i, 1821 ; wherein he gives ;^iOC 
and interest thereon to Buckingham Monthly Meeting 
"My rifle and shot gun with their accoutrements I 
give to William IVIarshall," the son of his brothei 



26o LIFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

Mo.ses. The balance of his estate he gives to his 
nieces, Rebecca, Sarah and Ann Marshall, the daugh- 
ters of his brother Martin, deceased. He adhered to 
the principles of Friends, wore a plain coat and used 
their language. 

Moses Marshall, the third son of Edward Marshall, 
was born in 1741. He was married to Agnes, daugh- 
ter of Jacob Kulp, who had moved from Hilltown 
township to Tinicum in 1761, where he had purchased 
212 acres from the London Company adjoining Ed- 
ward Marshall's land. Moses in 1782 purchased a 
farm of 150 acres near the confluence of the North 
Branch with Pine run in New Britain township, where 
he resided until into the beginning of this century, 
when he sold it and purchased another of 158 acres 
near Mechanicsville, in Buckingham township, where 
he continued until his death, which took place June 
22, 1828, aged nearly 88 years. His wife died only 
three months previously in her 87th year. Moses 
was sixteen years old when the Indians attacked the 
family of which he was a concealed spectator. He 
took the oath of allegiance in Tinicum, Juh'2i, 1778, 
where he continued to reside until the spring of 1782. 
His will is dated Sept. 2, 1825, leaving to his sons 
William and Martin each a farm of 79 acres and a 
legacy to his daughter Mary. The sons afterwards 
sold their places and moved to Ohio and have descend- 
ants there. We were informed that the "rifle and shot 
gun with their accoutrements" were taken along and 
no doubt are still in possession of William's family. 



HIS DESCENDANTS. 26 1 

We have supposed those to be the "two guns" men- 
tioned ui the inventoiy of Edward Marshall's effects, 
and if so the ones he may have frequently used. 

Martin Marshall, the fourth son, in connection with 
his brothers William and Edward, purchased from Col. 
Wall a farm of 100 acres in Tinicum township op- 
posite the Island in 1791, on which he continued to 
reside until his death, which we know was previous to 
1 82 1. He left four daughters, Sarah, Ann, Eliza and 
Rebecca. Catharine, the widow and the aforesaid 
heirs, sold the Island in 1836 to Price Pursell of Nock- 
amixon for ^2,942.85. Sarah was married to Samuel 
Weisel and after his decease to David Spear, became 
the owner of the homestead and 50 acres of land, on 
which she was still living in 1873, having been born 
here August 11, 1803. It was in this house where 
her grandfather's funeral was held in 1789, for which 
purpose his remains were brought from the Island, 
being on the way also to the family burying ground. 
Eliza was married to Thomas Pursell of Tinicum and 
Rebecca to Nelson Duckworth of Alexandria town- 
ship, Hunterdon county. These three sisters were 
still living in 1873 at advanced ages. Ann was mar- 
ried to William Mclntyre of Tinicum and we know 
she died before 1870. Nelson Duckworth and his 
family afterwards moved to the city of New York, 
having a son Morris who, we were informed, takes 
an interest in the family history. With the sisters 
Sarah, P^liza and Ann we were personally acquainted. 



262 LIFE OF EDWARD MARSIL\LL. 

They furnished us interesting information for this 
work. 

"Of the seven sons of Edward Marshall but three 
were married ; these were Moses, Martin and Peter. 
The latter was the first child by his second wife, hav- 
ing been born in 1759, and was called after his eldest 
son whom the Indians had killed in 1757. He moved 
from Tinicumto near Williamsport, Lycoming county, 
where he died July 25, 1806, aged 47 years, leaving 
also descendants. His son John died out there the 
latter part of December, 1 87 1 , aged about 80 years. 
Thomas, the sixth son of Edward, was born January 
19, 1761, and survived until 1831. In connection 
with his brother-in-law Thomas Tillyer he settled his 
father's estate between December 1789 and April 5, 
1792. In October 1791, he purchased his father's plan- 
tation of 21 2 acres on Tinicum creek, which he sold the 
following year to John Worman of said township. Ed- 
ward Marshall, Jr., died February 4, 1802, aged 32 
years, and with his brothers William, Martin and Tho- 
mas was buried in the family cemetery. Thomas T. 
Ridge informed us in 1873, that a tortoise had been 
found in the woods on the hill of that vicinity that 
had legibly cut on its under side the characters " E. 
M., 1792," evidently done by him in his 22d year. 

Catharine, the eldest of Edward Marshall's daugh- 
ters, was born about 1743, consequently when the at- 
tack was made by the Indians on the famih' in North- 
ampton county she may have been aged 14 years. 
She was shot with a bullet through the body in es- 



HIS DESCENDANTS, 263 

caping and concealed herself in a stream of water by 
which she staunched the flow of blood and eluded 
the vigilance of the savages who a few hours after- 
wards killed her mother. The wound occasioned 
the loss of her breast, but she reared twelve children, 
of whom eleven lived to be able-bodied men and 
women, two of whom attained to upwards of ninety 
years of age. William Ridge, her husband, was a car- 
penter by occupation and came from Bensalem before 
1 769. His father of the same name was a native of Eng- 
land and had settled in said township, where he died in 
1776, aged 80 years, and his wife Mary survived until 
1 795, having attained the advanced age of 9 1 years. The 
son in 1775 purchased a farm of 79 acres of Robert 
Patterson, Esq., in Tinicum, for ^240. The following 
year he purchased adjoining for ^200, 15 acres with 
buildings and an island of 45 acres in the Delaware 
from Jonas Marshall (son of Moses) and his wife Han- 
nah who had moved to Surry county, North Carolina. 
William Ridge died about 1821, aged 88 years. His 
children were Elizabeth, Thomas, William, Mary, 
Grace, Edward, Joseph, Catharine, Henry, Moses and 
Rebecca. 

The present owners of the homestead are Thomas 
T. and Wm. A. Ridge, who are the twin sons of Moses, 
who died in i860, aged 78 years. They informed us 
in 1873 that the island mentioned as containing forty- 
five acres, and so long known as Ridge's Island, had, 
through the action of the current, become reduced to 
a long, narrow gravel bar that at low water contained 



264 I-ItE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

but three or four acres, on which now neither ijrass 
nor bushes grow. About forty years previously large 
trees were still flourishing on it, and it was then the 
resort of numerous birds. This purchase was origi- 
nally made from John and Thomas Penn in 1769, and 
lay about half a mile below Marshall's Island. The 
aforesaid brothers are the present owners of a rifle that 
is said to have belonged to Edward Marshall, made at 
Rothenberg, Germany, and was purchased at the sale 
of Martin Marshall's effects. It is a flint-lock, and has 
the appearance of having seen considerable service 
though still in good order. The barrel is three feet 
one and a half inches in length, and the bore five- 
eighths of an inch in diameter with six grooves. Its 
total w'eight is nine and three-fourths pounds, and car- 
ries an ounce ball, which is sufficiently large to prove 
destructive. Dr. James Ridge, of Camden, N. J., is 
also a brother, as was Edward, lately deceased in Tini- 
cum. \Vm. Ridge, our guide to the island, is the son 
of Joseph, who has also furnished us interesting in- 
formation respecting the Marshall family, as well as 
his cousins, with whom we have had an accjuaintance 
for over forty years. 

Elizabeth, the second daughter of Edward Marshall, 
was married before his decease to Immanuel Pidcock, 
and Naomi to William McCalla. Near the beginning 
of this century both moved, with Peter Marshall, their 
brother, to Williamsport, Lycoming county, where they 
have also descendants. Jemima, who was married to 
William Allen, died before her father and left .several 



HIS DESCENDANTS. 265 

children. Amy married Thomas Tillyer, who, in a 
list of taxables for Tinicum, is mentioned in 1779 as 
"a single man living with Moses Marshall." He was 
married before 1789, and himself and wife were buried 
in the Marshall graveyard. The four remaining daugh- 
ters, Mary, Ann, Sarah and Rebecca, were single in 
1 79 1. Mary married John Long and died in Phila- 
delphia, August 26, 1829. Ann married Joseph Hin- 
kle and died March 26, 1837, aged 72 years. Sarah 
died March 3, 1793, aged 25 years, and is buried in 
the family graveyard. Rebecca, the youngest, married 
Niel. Kean, and died at an advanced age near French- 
town, N. J. A daughter Eliza w^as still living at the 
latter place in 1873, to whom we are also indebted for 
considerable information. She was the possessor of 
her grandfather Marshall's high-case eight-day clock 
and a chest of drawers that had been brought from 
England. The Hinkles are ah old family in Plumstead 
and Tinicum. Philip Hinkle, the father of Joseph and 
Caspar, of Hinkletown, was a blacksmith in the Rev- 
olutionary army and cried the sale of Edward Mar- 
shall's personal effects in 1790. Dr. A. G. B. Hin- 
kle, Rachel W., wnfe of Prof J. W. Shoemaker, now 
of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Mary Wyker, of Tinicum, 
are from whom we have also received information, 
the children of William Hinkle, son of Joseph. 

From what has been stated it will be observed that 
the descendants of Edward Marshall at this day must 
be numerous in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Ohio. 
Although they have lived and flourished so long in 



266 LIFE OF EDWARD MARSHALL. 

Bucks county and in the name are extinct, yet his de- 
scendants can there be numbered now by hundreds 
through intermarriage into families bearing the names 
of Ridge, Crout, Weisel, Hinkle, Meyers, Wyker, 
Weidenmeyer, Bergstresser, Pursell, Morehead, Mcln- 
tyre,Buck, Nace and others. We have thought if his sev- 
eral thousand descendants, now so widely scattered 
over the Union, could read this imperfect and hastily 
prepared sketch, what an additional interest it would 
awaken, not only as to their family history, but of the 
hero of the famous Walk, with his extraordinary ad- 
ventures and trials, that have been the subject hitherto 
of so many lingering traditions, and of the most xague 
and contradictory statements. 



THE END. 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Acrelius on Thomas Penn 162 

Address to Gov. Denny U3, 146 

Agent to reside in England 8 

Allen, Wm , land dealings, 41, 42, 
44, 45, 62, Ki ; character, 42, 47, 49 ; 
at Indian treaty, 66; biographical 
sketch, 163; importunate for office, 
165 ; on Nutimus, iilS ; on Tedyiis- 

cnng 80 

Andros, Gov., purchase 25 

Attack on the Weisers 227. 228 

Appointing powers of the Penns..lO, 13 
Assembly, Governor's salaries, 9; 
committee from, 131; li mi ted pow- 
ers, 10 ; and the proprietaries. 24, 

31,. 39,52,77 
Beale, Geo., requires a clear deed, 29 

Beaver skin tribute 8 

Biles, Wm., deposition 68 

Boinities for destroying Indians 230 

Bounds of the Indian purchase 49,71 

Broadhead and Riddle's charge 219 

Brown, Alex., testimony, 61, 123, 

172 202 213 

Bucksvilleon line of Walk .' 1.102 

Canassategosspeech.50,102,109, i:*, 

193, 199, 210 
Chapman, John, surveyor, 55, 60, 
63,81,87, 102, 109, 11(1, 130 ; purchase, 
27,101 ; memoranda, 103 ; biograph- 
ical sketch 181 

Character of proprietaries 18 

Charters set aside by Penn 12 

Civility, a Delaware chief 80 

Cobus creek 216, 225 

Colonial Records and Archives lo 

Combush and Joe Tuneam 87,92, 95 

Commissioners of property .38 

Conference at Easton 121 

Council, powers of, 10. 14; report 

from 146 

Courts of Inquiry established 25 

Court at Newtown 85, 211 

Day, Sherman. on misgovernment, 17 
Deed to Lehigh Hills, 65; authoriz- 
ing the Walk 70 

Delaware Indians, complimented, 

21 ; to Judge Laiichorne 49 

Denny. Gov., and the Council, 122, 
127, 215 ; reply to Friends, 149 ; ex- 
amines Marshall 218 

Depue, Kicholas, purchase 43 



PAGE 

Difficulties of Colonial governors 9 

Dingman, Andrew, purchase 45 

Doane, Joseph 67,58, 87, 210 

Docnmenis on the Walk 121 

DuPonceau on Penn's purchases 31 

Durham purchase, 51; iron works, 
89; road, 89, 93, 102,208,212; treaty. 

76. 195 
Dutch. Swedish and English pur- 
chases 25 

Eastburn.Benj..map,26,97,103,104, 
109, 119, 12^, 130, 16S ; surveyor gen- 
eral. 45, 47, 95,96, 101, 1U7, 119, 213; 

biographical sketch 167 

Elective covuicil abolished by Penn. 14 

Expenses of the Walk .W, 106 

Families related to the Marshalls...265 

Feeling against the Penns 18 

Felons, importation forced 12 

Feudal prerogatives of the Penns 17 

Franklin, Beiij., agent. 16,121 ; com- 
missioner. 15 ; on the Penns, 19 ; 
on Thomas Penn, 159; orders on 

scalping 232 

French opposed to scalping 236 

Friendly Association, 54, 1.S6. 139, 

143, 146, 248 
Forgery, charge of. 74. 75. 125, 130, 

146.215 
Furniss, Thos.. testimony, 84,91,94. 

97. 100 

Gallows Hill 89,93.212 

Gallows erected for Thos. Penn 162 

Gnadenhutten massacre 222 

Goodwin, Ephraim, testimony. 60. 

91.94,123. 19C 

Gordon's view of the Walk 114, 199 

Governors bonds 9 

Great Shawnee Island 43 

Hamilton's, Andrew, draft 69, 79 

Harrison. Captain 87, 96 

Heckewelder on Indian purchases, 

45; on Indian names 197,202 

Heider. John, testimony, 63, 84. 91, 

93, 104 123. 179, 188 

Hinkle, family account of. 2G5 

Hinkletown 208 

Henry "s History of Dehigh Valley, 116 
Hockley "s letters to Thos. Penn , 132, 145 
Hockyondocqua, Indian town, 95, 

97,196,201.212 



268 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Holme's map of original surveys. 

26, 100 

Hiishos, ]Matlie\v. at Marshall's 225 

Ili(li:iiis, accniiHl (if Walk. HI; at- 
tack (Hi .Marshall sramily,l!-."J. 22B; 
ilissatislicd.-J?. l's.31,;i/, -11, IS, 50: 
97, ll.-J, 114, no. 125, 172, 19!J, 201,206, 
2U ; dangerof mobs, 233 ; desire to 
treat for lands, 32 ; defended by 
Logan, 37; kindness from. 21,25, 
189; murders in Northampton 
county ,222 ; furnished with books, 
20, 21; purchases from, 2ii, 70; 
meetingat Durham,6-J,56,67 ; por- 
traits taken, 196, ]9( , 201, 202 : dan 
gerous to take their part, 1^9; 
their reservations not respected, 
200; titles from, 23; language 
spoken with Hollanders, 173; 
treaty at Pennsbury , 57 ; war and 

the Walk, 15: threats 50,199 

Iroquois or Six Nations, 80, 115, 118, 

193, 199 

Jenks, Hon, Michael H 63, 102 

Jennings. Solomon, notice of, 78. 83, 

.Sti ; biographical sketch 187 

Johnson,. Sir Wm.,at Easton 34,39 

Judges, subserviency of. 11 

Kindness of Delaware Indians 21 

Kittatinny or Blue Mountains 49, 62 

Knowles, Joseph 61, 91 

I>a Bars reminiscenses 113 

Lands sold not granted by the In- 
dians 36 

Langhorne. Judge, and the Penns. 120 

Lawsuits of the Penns 11, 29 

Lappawinzo, notice of, 62, 95, 98; 

biographical sketch 200 

Lehigh river called Toby hanna, 185, 

213 ; hills of 191 

LeTort Indian trader 202 

Logan, James, purchases, SS. 39, 40, 
2116, desires Indian purchases, 33, 
37; conduct as commissioner, 39 ; 
on Nutimus, 198; on Indian hon- 
esty 197, 202 

Logan. William, 40, 107, 108, 123, 131, 134 

Lukens. John, succeeds N. Scull 175 

Luther's catechism in Indian 20 

Loudoun, Lord, conduct 219 

Markham's purchase 26, 64 

Mana wkyhickon s speech 69, 72 

Manor of t'hawton 48 

Mar,shall, Edward, mention of,83, 
8ti, 92, 94, !t.'^, 98. 100. 105, 201 ; life of, 
2(J3; his brothers, 205 ; purchase, 
205 ; removes to Northampton 
county, 216; wife killed, 225; son 
Peter killed. -26; his account of 
the Walk. 209.211 ; inconntcr with 
Indians, 2.(7; returns to Bucks 
county. 23.1 ; death and funeral. 
242 ; j>ersonal and real estate, 244 ; 
his widow's death, 244; his de- 
scendants, 243, 2,59 ; reminiscenses 
and traditions, 247 ; hisisland resi- 
dence 256 

Marshall, Catharine, wounded 225 

Marshall, John , 2L5 

Marshall, Martin 261 



PAOR 

Marshall, Moses, on reward, 82; 
statement. 110, 117 ; notice of, 205 : 

estate 246 

Marshall W'm.. notice of, 205, 2o7 ; 
will and estate, 239, 244 ; informed 

against 259 

Marshall's creek 218 

Marshall graveyard 205, 262 

Minisink settlement, 42, 44, 113, 116, 

118, 194 
Minisink visited by Scull and Chap- 
man 183 

Misconduct of the Penns 91 

Morris, Oov., proclamation 234 

Alount Bethel township 216.229 

Mysteries of the Walk 64,76,79 

Names of persons at the Walk 91, 92 

Northampton county, early ac- 
count of. 217 

Nutimus notices of. 50,62,108,116, 

119; biographical sketch 198 

Observations on the Walk 99 

Opekasset and Shackalawlin 192 

Opposition to Indian rights, 22; to 

the proprietaries 12, 16, 18 

Overfield. Abner and Benjamin, 
216; Elizabeth, 205; family ac 

count of, 220 

Page, John, refuses unpaid grants,,. 47 

Peace was Penns policy 24 

Pemberton, Israel, views on 145 

Penn Accounts, ,55, j06, 170, 186, 192, 

194,196 
Penn, John, at Durham, 54; Gov- 
ernor's marriage 166 

Penn, Richard, character, 18; son 

of William 53 

Ptnn, Thomas, promises honesty, 
33; e.xtensivc grant to .Mien, 46; 
his character. IS. 51, ,53, sii, 99, 152, 
154, 156, 162 r admits of discontent, 
8, 120; address from the Assem- 
bly, 52; at Durham, 54; gives in- 
structions on the Walk, 60 ; treats 
for the Walking purchase, 66; on 
the Walk. 75. 79. 8'j, 106, 108,109; 
paitieular re(iuest,S5; opinion of 
\Vni, Logan, 134; biographical 
sketch, 151 ; arrives with a 
Friends' certificate, 145; tries a 
scheme to get Franklin Square, 
1.59; ill treatment cf his nephew, 
155 ; gets won n(le(l and marriage, 
154; opinion of the CJuakers. 114 ; 
death, ]6i; gallows erected for 
him, 162; views on Eastburn's 
map, 16S ; considers Eastbnrn not 
honest, 171 ; tries to cheat his 

nephew William ovit of land 155 

Penn. .spnimctt. and his guardian. ,,156 
Penn. William, code of laws, 9; 
comspoiuliuice with Logan, 25; 
to give clear Indian title. 29; re- 
quired to civilize the Indians, 7, 
30; justice. 67 ; commissioners of 
property, 3S ; family extinct ik. 

name, 112; death of. 53 

Penn, Wm. Jr., receives a grant 42 

Penns refuse to be taxed , 15, 16 ; gen- 
erosity to. 161 ; query about 161 



^D 



S3 



INDEX. 



269 



PAGE 

Pennsbury treaty 67, 195,2(i0 

Pennsylvania liberality 161 

Peters. Richard, on the Walk, J20 ; 
on the Quakers. 140 ; reply to, HO ; 
reply to Assembly, 136 ; letters to 

Thos. Penn 140, 141. ]7l), 180, 232, 235 

Peters, Wm., report on the Walk, 

12.5; letter to Thos. Penn 231 

Petition to make Indian purchases. .32 

Pocono mountain 96. 213 

Pokopoghcunk, an Indian settle- 
ment 96.212 

Power of the Penns, 10. 13, 14, 16, 24 ; 

of the Royal government 12 

Preston, Samuel, on the Walk. 114 ; 
visits Marshall, 241 ; pocket com- 
pass 249 

Proprietaries, government, 7 ; to 
pay tribute. 8 ; stipulations, 23; 

and Society of Friends 137 

Proclamations for destroying In- 
dians 233, 235 

Quakers, errors respecting, 137. 140, 
148,150; benevolence of, 1.38. 139, 

223 ; charge against 142, 145. 147 

Records mystified 49 

Report of Council 125, 127, 129, 131 

Reservation by the Indians 81,2(i0 

Rewards for destroying Indians 232 

Reward for the Walkers 82, 83, 86. 248 

Ridge family . account of 263 

Ridge, Wm., guide to Marshall's 

Island 255. 258 

Rights of the Indians 20, 34, 206 

Roads, early, to Tinicum 207 

Royal charter to Penn, 7 ; procla- 
mation 35 

Sassoonan and James Logan, .32, 37, 

6.5,80; biog.'aphical sketch of. ..191 

Scenery at Marshall's Island 255 

Scull, Nicholas. 47, 91.93,95,96, 104, 
12.3,213,217; biographical sketch. 
172; deposition on the Walk, 173; 

interpreter 194 

Servility to the Penns 18 

Shackalimy, 80 ; biographical 

sketch of. 193 

Shippen. Edward, letter 231 

SheriflTs and Coroners, election of.... 13 

Smith, Dr. Chas. W., 63, 101, 102, 118 

Smith, Joseph 63, 101. 104 

Smith, Timothy, sheriff. 55,57,59, 
60.63, 78.83.. «5. 88, 92. 95, 102, 109, 123, 
128 : biographical sketch, 177 ; de- 
position on the Walk 178 

Starting place for Walk 26 

Steel , James, letter, 57, 62, 85, 97, 109, 210 

Streiper's purchase 28, 40, 206 

Stokes' Meadow- 57 



PAGE 

Society of Friends 110, 133, 148 

Swedes, kindness to thelndians, 20; 

arrival 64 

•■Swedish and German missionaries, 21 

Tademi murdered 46 

Tavlor, Jacob, surveyor 41 

Tedyuscung's charge. 100, 121, 129, 
131, 146, 14/ ; and the Friendly As- 
sociation 143 

Termination of Walk 90, 98 

Thomas, Governor 193 

Tinicum township 207 

Tishcohan, 62,72, 98; biographical 

sketch 195 

Tobyhanna creek 213, 250 

Tohickon creek 93, 195, 198. 205 

Toleration in Rhode Island and 

Maryland 9 

Trego, C. B.,on the Walk 116 

Trial Walk 53, 110, 180, 181 

Triumph of Franklin's party 16 

True and absolute Proprietary 15 

Van Etten,Capt. John, 232 ; journal 

of 225 

Vaux, Robert, on Thos. Penn 51 

Voltaire on the Great Treaty 30 

Walking purchase 65, 195, 201. 210 

Walking, rapid Ill 

Walk, beginning and end of, 100, 169, 
212 ; distance of, 56, 104, 106. 109. 110, 
168, 174, 211,214; expenses of. .55, 
59, 106 ; errors on, 110 ; depositions, 
123,211; inquiry concerning. 121, 
123 ; postponed, 210 ; route of. Iu2 ; 
results of, 113, 11/, 118 ; Marshall's 

account 209 

War of extermination waged 233, 2^ 

Warner, Thomas 63, 102 

Warrant of arrest for Thos. Penn....l^ 

Warford's Rocks 25/ 

Watson, John Jr., account of Walk. 

115. 219 
Watson. John, surveyor. 55. 63, 103, 

115,207,245 
Watson, John F., on grants. 77 ; in 

error about Marshall 241 

Weiser, Conrad 191, 193, 194, 2.33 

Weiser. Nicholas, killed 227 

Whilefield's purchase from Allen... 45 

Wiggins. Benjamin 63, 102 

Wilson, George, of Durham 93,212 

AVitnesses on the Walk '. 123 

Wood, Dr., on Thos. Penn 158 

Wood's, John, land 65 

Yates. James, 78, 83, 86, 93, 94,96, 104, 

110, 168, 213 ; biographical sketch of..l84 
Zeisberger, David, missionary. ...21, 200 
Zinzeudorf, Count 46 



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